Key Moments Cost Us

MATCH PREVIEW

Key moments define big games. Fifteen minutes into the second half, we had an attacking lineout in Old Albanians’ twenty-two. One of our best stats from Saturday was that every lineout completed in the OA’s twenty-two ended with us scoring points. This particular lineout, however, wasn’t completed due to a slow lift, resulting in an overthrow. Four missed tackles later OA’s won a scrum on our five-metre line. We then lost a man to a yellow card and conceded a try, giving OA’s a nineteen-point lead. Had we completed the lineout and continued our success in the OA’s red zone, the score could have been 29–24 — a very different game.

The players gave us plenty to be proud of. Thirty-one points is the most that OA’s have conceded this season and scoring five tries away from home against the league leaders is an achievement. But we’re not interested in being plucky losers. We gave a good team too many opportunities and our lineout malfunctioned several times in try-scoring positions. The margins are much finer in games like this, so we know that to come away with a win, we have to be more ruthless.

The Pilgrims, on the other hand, registered their first win of the season with a well-earned 26–17 victory over Dartfordians. They scored a superb try with five minutes to go following an Owain Collins offload and a strong finish from Gus Lister. That put them in front, and a penalty in the final minute sealed the win — also denying Dartfordians any league points.

This win was all the more important as Darfordians still sit one place, and one point, above the Pilgrims after this result. This Saturday we follow up with another important game as the the travel to Old Reigatians who sit bottom of the table. A result tomorrow could see them jump up to nineth in the table if other results go their way.

The 1st XV welcome Bury St Edmunds to the Marine Travel Ground tomorrow in an equally important fixture. Bury also have four wins this season but sit ahead of us thanks to five extra bonus points.

Our improvements in attack are exactly what we’ve been aiming for and we’re seeing real progress. The focus now is on ensuring our defence is relentless and disciplined so we can head into the week off with a win.

MATT CORKER, HEAD COACH