A Superhuman Mighty Rucking Effort

On yet another warm late summer Saturday the Mighty took to a very hard pitch (again) against newly relegated Thurston 2nds. Who despite failing to put out a side in 7 of their fixtures last season managed a full 15 with a least half a dozen subs. This was either down to a massive recruitment drive during the summer or the fact their 1st team (3 leagues higher) didn’t have a game, who knows?

Unperplexed by this, the Mighty was able to field a very strong squad, skipper Alex moving to hooker and Oliver Hall stepping in at 9 and Mark Broughton at 10 to provide 2 serious rugby brains.

A nice blend of youth and experience, with some speed in the backs with the returning Lindsay and Harry and some serious beefy forwards with Aaron returning for 1st proper league start in nearly 2 seasons. ( I’m not counting the 5 minutes at Maldon last year when you came off and was sick in the bushes).

The Mighty started well, constantly mixing up the play with good rucking and recycling, then popping it out wide to release the quick youthful backs.

It was one of these speedsters that got the Mightys 1st try. A penalty by Oli that was aimed for the corner managed to stay in play wrong footing the Thurston defence only for Lindsay to chase it down and score in the bottom right hand corner.

More Mighty pressure kept the ball in the Thurston half, but a rare surge to the Mighty 22 and and even rarer penalty saw Thurston put their first 3 points on the board. Seeing a penalty go through the posts at this level is quite a sight, the sort of thing you normally see 3 leagues higher!

This didn’t deter the Mighty and soon it was 10-3 with an excellent try from Oli who with some quick thinking and even quicker side steps broke through the Thurston defence to cross the line.

A few changes due to slight knocks and the heat unsettled the Mighty a bit and with the half nearly over a try from a lucky break by Thurston made it 10-8 at half time.

More changes were required but with the break in play coaches Henry and Duncan were able to reorganise a bit and even get their boots on to give some of the guys a breather.

After the restart a rare Mighty missed tackle in the middle of the park probably due to fresh players not being in pace with the game gave Thurston their second try making it 10-13.

The second half continued with returning pressure from the Mighty, great rucking both in attack and defence. Amazing disiplin with very few penalties given away and solid Mighty scrummaging against a well trained Thurston pack started to have an impact.

Soon the Mighty pressure paid off, 10 metres from the try line the Mighty ran through the phases with some delightful passes. A volley ball style tap from big sexy Zac saw the ball end up in the hands of Harry who scored between the post. With Oli getting the conversion in was now 17-13.

With the clock ticking down (very slowly due to all the injuries and water breaks) the Mighty just needed to defend well to see out the game. Everything was going according to plan but a freakish interception from Thurston in the middle of the park led to their 3rd try and with the conversion took the score to 17-20.

A cheeky kick and go from Henry looked like the Mighty might salvage a win in the last few seconds but with his calf going on the way to the tryline it was not to be.

So it ended 17-20, a defeat yes, but sometimes you have to lose the battle to win the war and with more performances from the Mighty like this they will win many battles and many wars.

Official man of the match was young Kieran for superb lineout play and rucking but every player that pulled on a Mighty shirt deserved a man of the match award.

As usual I can’t mention everyone but its was great to see the North brothers return, Deano playing at fullback, probably the only fullback that runs everything and never kicks. Disney with some excellent lineout jumping and patching up his injuries to come back on, most of the guys did the same, both the main medical bag and Frosties back up took a serious caning.

A few weeks off to recover and a friendly against Norwich before the league continues with Colchester on the 12th of October, hopefully we might have some rain by then.

I miss the mud and I’m sick of getting straw and dust out of my boots!

(c) Robert Frost