Extra A 19 v Letchworth 2s 5

The Extra A went away to Letchworth 2’s on Saturday in an important game which will go a long way towards deciding who will finish in the top 4 of this fiercely contested league. With some of our usual suspects missing this week we were able to welcome back Charlie Harris in the front row, with youngster Jack Sharp making his debut at Flanker. Glass man Ashley Boyle also started at fly half this week, with versatile point’s machine ;) Neil Spalding moving to full back.

Our hosts were apparently lacking front row (although their 3s had contested scrums against our 4s), so we had uncontested scrums, and they had a versatile pack. We kicked off with the sun at our backs and immediately our defence looked solid as we pinned Letchworth deep in their own half. We coughed up possession within their 22 a little too easily within the first 10 minutes, but a few misplaced kicks allowed the back 3 of Marsh, Sperm and Stapleton to link up well and return the ball with interest. We eventually managed to break Letchworth down on the 15 minute mark; some booming carries from Sharp, Palombo and Harrison stretched the defence before the play was spread back quickly from Tank to Boyle, who’s perfectly timed pass found centre Alex Tindall on an exceptional short line to score under the posts. The Extras were added by Sperm. The half continued very much in the same vein, and although Letchworth had their fair share of possession, the blue defensive line, led by centre Tiarnan Kelly and superbly backed up by the pack, held firm. Old head Diddy Byatt did what he does best with his aggressive tackling and just generally irritating the opposition. We looked a constant threat with the ball in hand, and hooker Derry Joyce deserves a mention for the sheer amount of carries he made when there was no other option.

Ash Boyle used his average passing ability to release the outside backs on numerous occasions, and wingers Joe Marsh and Ben Stapleton both made loads of ground on their respective flanks. It wasn’t until a minute before half time that we scored our second try of the day; a neat midfield move saw Boyle release Sperm (ha) out wide, the 15 beat a man and fed Stapleton who charged for the corner. The covering defenders got across and as Stapleton was being bundled towards touch he chanced an offload out of the tackle which was gathered by Sperm who scored in the corner.

This act was the last of the half, meaning that we went in at the break with a 12-0 lead having controlled the game until this point. At half time we introduced prolific try scorer Andrew Mackenzie and Tom Brady in the pack (uncontested scrums) for Charlie Harris and Derry Joyce, both of whom contributed to a dominant first half display.

The second half kicked off and we again went on the offensive, pinning our hosts back in their own half. We had several scrums in the first 10 minutes of the second period and good work at the back from Joe Tracy and Tank saw us push close to the line. To their credit, the Letchworth defence stood firm and put in some big hits to deny us on several occasions. There was a critical moment about 15 minutes into the half though; great work at the breakdown from Macca and Slade gifted us a penalty and after we took the direct approach the ball was spun back left though Brady to Alex Tindall who again burst over for a good converted try. Letchworth came back at us as we knew they would, but further ferocious tackling from Sharp and Palombo stopped them in their tracks. Possibly the moment of the game came soon after this when Tank showed exactly where his nickname came from, as he flew out of the line and absolutely nailed the Letchworth runner, much to the delight of his team mates, and surprise of the opposition.

Things got a bit ugly as the game wore on, and as Letchworth became more frustrated with the inevitable outcome of the game, one of their players was shown a straight red after he attempted to punch the annoying Palombo on the floor. I ensured that nobody said anything untoward to the unfortunate player as he left the field. Soon after this Diddy Byatt was yellow carded for not rolling away (for the 8th time). Letchworth scored a good try of their own after some good interplay saw their flanker go through, to be just about stopped by a last ditch tackle from Sperm. They recycled the ball well following this and managed to score out wide. The remaining ten minutes were marred by the arrival of a horrific hail storm, but this did not stop Ash Boyle from pinging some beautiful kicks to the corner which killed the game.

Dick of the day contenders included Macca (can’t remember why, thought he played well) and Ben Harrison (kicking the ball AGAIN), but Diddy Byatt was yellow carded and gave away enough penalties to earn the prize. Diddy did actually play very well so this is maybe a bit harsh. MoM was very difficult after such a strong team performance; our whole pack were exceptional throughout, and our backs worked well to finish our chances from the strong platform provided, but Alex Tindall was seemingly everywhere in both attack and defence, managing to bag two tries, and so he was the chosen one.

A very pleasing performance from the Extra A sets up nicely for our 3 remaining league games of the season.