My first match was a real cracker jack, Wolverhampton surviving a furious comeback by Ashbourne, 23-22. And Ashbourne were at home. Great game by both sides. The opening 10 minutes or so was very quick. With this being a level 7 cup match and both towards the top of the draw, it was clear that they were trying to show "I'm boss of this match." After settling in, the two teams went back and forth with long periods of play where everyone touched the ball. My assessor noted that a Wolverhampton try came from 20 plus phases. Even at the highest level in the States with two quality sides, a try with that many phases is very rare. It was nothing fancy, just good rugby: an occasional "pick and go" from a ruck with several "pass through the hands" that started inside their 22.
Ashbourne took the points to draw 17-23 with 10 minutes or so to go. In what would be the finest moment of the day, Ashbourne drove deep into Wolverhampton's territory and was awarded a scrum 5 after being held up in goal. From the resulting scrum, Ashbourne scored the final try with no time on the clock. The scrummie went strongside with the first pass, only for the flyhalf to quickly change direction after spotting that the weakside winger was left alone. He scampered in untouched for the try, but was blocked from touching down under the posts. Personally, I think he had the opportunity to get there, but the mark was just to the left of the posts. Unfortunately, the hometeam missed the conversion and thus dropping them out of the cup.
Nothing better than having both coaches, captains and several players say, "Well played ref, well played." The Ashbourne captain said, "Sir, I really have nothing to say as you had a brilliant game. And I don't give that compliment away too often. Will we see you again on your tour?" The Wolverhampton coach felt that I was too slow on the ruck breakdowns, only for my assessor and host to say, "Coach, not so. When the quick ball was on and the defense slowed it down, he penalized the offending side. He had 3 unplayable rucks today and those were correct: ball carrier rolled on top of tackler w/ ball between them, tackler took out support player while rolling away and a proper ruck-out caused 3 players to lose their feet, covering the ball." Upon hearing that, the coach said, "Well, you have the numbers and if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. But no matter sir as you had a great game. I would welcome you as ref with my side anyday."
And with those words, my post match pint of Smooth went down smoothly.
http://www.pitchero.com/clubs/ashbourne/s/match-report-18656.html?fixture_id=1520065&official=0
