Fantastic Fours Fall Short but not Without Stunning Deal

Deacons vs Deal & Betts 2’s Match Report

Fantastic Fours Fall Short but not without stunning Deal by the infamous Pete Demery

Deacons 21 – Deal & Betts 32

On an afternoon where any normal person would stay inside enjoying appropriate snacks and refreshments, the Deacons assembled to run out against an old foe Deal & Betts. After an attritional run of 4 consecutive games, getting a full squad out was a challenge and once more some of our Zingari fellows stepped in to assist.
With barely 15 on the field and no front row to contest at scrum time we knew it would be a tough afternoon.
The weather levelled the playing field a little and we knew we might have to get creative with some key forwards missing from our usually strong set piece plays.

At kick off Deacons received & looked to move the ball around the field to overcome a very organised Deal defence. Handling errors were inevitable given the conditions & frenetic pace of play, there were more dropped balls than the u12’s squad! The uncontested scrums were welcome respite for the larger of us on the field.

Deal drew first blood but not until deep into the first half; a well worked try squeezed in at the corner. Deals kicker had a tricky day missing all the conversion attempts (despite the opposition linesman giving a conversion that missed the middle of the uprights by about 4 nautical miles).
Deacons battled well until the 25 minute mark when Deal struck again, once more around the fringes before a quick 3rd try after a devastating rolling maul. We were rocked, and periodically suffering with going a man down with injuries and an empty bench.
The first half ended with Deal on 22 points to our 0, we had to regroup over our halftime Haribo and we weren’t going down without a fight.

After a small reshuffle and some tactical changes with positional play we went into the second half with our tails up taking the fight to Deal. It didn’t disappoint despite a quick Deal try after the restart.

We played the Deacons way. Upped the fun, worked as a team and communicated well causing chaos at lineout time.

At 10, Dan Head moved the forwards around the breakdowns & delivered a kicking masterclass from the fringes at try time.
Oli Toms, David Hierro and Adam Malik combined to carry the ball brilliantly up the middle of the field.
Callum Townsend on his second shift as flanker cleared in attack and tackled phenomenally in defence, jumping in the lineout as if he’d been doing it years.
Rob Horan worked brilliantly from 12 to organise the backline with great territory kicking and Harry Stanley (Harry Standout more like!) at fullback was key to our attack and the last line of defence – battling through breaking a finger at some point – I was wondering what he was pointing at!

Returning to the Deacons from uni Reilly Fleming demonstrated he’d missed us, stepping into a flanking role away from the backs his presence reassuring us around the field before dotting down between the posts.

Man of the match went to Ed Exley for barreling over the line with 2 tries in the corner, running hard and beating tackles.
After another period of sustained attack and a number of Deal penalties in their own 22, Deacons scored again. With Dan’s superb kicking the score all of a sudden stood at 21-27 game on with 10 left to go! Deal were rocked and scrambled, hitting back with a try through their pack.

With no time left on the clock we pushed and pushed to get back over the Deal line but ultimately came up short losing the battle with time but winning the second half.

If we’d had another 20 I’ve no doubt we would’ve won, we retired to the changing rooms broken, bloodied, muddied and in great spirits. A fantastic effort by all.

POTM – Ed Exley (2 x tries), con x 3 – Dan Head, Reilly Fleming (try).
Huge shout out to Piers Weigh (who’s clearly watched his Dad play rugby too much) and thought he could pick and score a try from 2 metres out against Deals entire front row!

As a team it takes us time to gel on match days.
We’d love to be able to put out the same match squad each week.
If you want to return to playing or play competitive rugby that’s fun & social without necessarily always having to train. Come and play Deacons rugby!

We’ve a week off before December fixtures at home on the 13th. 2 to go before 2026 begins.