Mary’s cruise through to Semis
As the sun struck the lush green fields of a sleepy Chislehurst on a Tuesday afternoon you could cut the atmosphere with a cliché. The two rival camps of supporters gathered to cheer on their respective teams. While UCH ran out looking around nervously, Mary’s stormed out - focused and full of determination. This attitude continued straight from the kickoff into the match.
It was our kick and the forwards charged through to win a ball that should not have been theirs, rucking impressively to a position in front of the posts. They had no option but to kill the ball and Nev slotted away the penalty for three points. From the restart there was a similar story and Nev again put the kick away for six-nil.
The third kick-off saw their forwards getting it right and slowed down our drive but only for our backs to break through with Will Jackson and Ollie Kayes. Faced with this onslaught they infringed again, with Nev opting for the line out this time. From here Tremmor won good ball and Bill Tuff drove into the heart of the UCH defence. As the forwards neared the line Phil Sauve at scrum-half showed he too could drive and forced the ball over the line.
After dominating for much of the first quarter UCH started to get back into the game. First of all they tried the direct approach, only to find the tackles of Lidely and Jackson a bit hard for their liking. The kicking strategy was next employed but Platty, Lee and Rogers were more than a match for it. They managed to gain three points, however, after an infringement in the ruck was penalised. Their supporters cheered the first points they had scored against St Mary’s for quite a while.
Whilst their celebrations continued we got back into the task at hand. Ban and Tremmor won good balls from lineouts and Tufty and Sankey were both clearing and driving. Some incisive running from Ollie sent Simon Rogers away to score next to the posts.
The half ended with brief exchanges between the two sides, with UCH beginning to play with more urgency, but our line never wavered. The only bad points were another penalty for them and Ollie having to go off with a broken nose. Rob Elliot replaced him and did a fine job starting where Ollie had left off.
The second half started with some more power play from our forwards, but as it progressed things again became more frantic as befits a cup match. They pressed again and won another penalty. The only highlight of this half was another run from Roger - breading through the line from full-back to settle the match twenty-five to nine.
We progress to the semi-finals knowing that arch-rivals Charring Cross will play no farther part in the competition as they crashed out thirty to eight against UMDS.
St Mary’s 25 - 9 UCH
