Match Report Widden Away

Widden OB 14pts Drybrook 20pts

Drybrook got their season back on track with this excellent victory away at league leaders Widden Old Boys. It took a last minute try for Drybrook to secure victory but they fully deserved it after a fully committed performance against an equally determined home team. The wind was a key factor in the game and Widden had first use of it, which they exploited well to take an early lead with a penalty. Drybrook were forced to run everything against the wind but they quickly worked a position near the home 22-metre line. An attempted cross kick was held up in the wind but centre Leon Meek responded quicker than anyone to take the ball and release winger Jamie Roberts who scored in the corner. Widden responded immediately and scored a try themselves from a lineout catch and drive to regain the lead after 10 minutes. Drybrook’s had the chance to draw level with a penalty but Chris Thomas’s effort was incorrectly disallowed even though it passed through the uprights and was signalled by the touch judges before the wind somehow blew it back in field. Widden gratefully cleared and added a penalty themselves to lead at the interval by 11pts – 5pts.

The second half started well for Drybrook when scrum half Carl Moore forced a mistake from his opposite number after a 5 metre scrum to touch down for the try. The rest of the match turned into a war of attrition with both teams giving it their all as they battled for supremacy. Drybrook thought they had the game won when Thomas kicked a penalty to give them the lead with 10 minutes remaining but Widden responded almost immediately with a difficult penalty to regain the lead. Into the last minutes Drybrook were camped on the Widden line and Carl Moore ensured victory when he wriggled over from a close range scrum for the all-important score. Thomas’s successful conversion was the last play of the game and Drybrook were left celebrating the fact that that they are back in the title race.

Drybrook team: Steve Skelton, Jamie Roberts, Leon Meek, Chris Rawlings, Steve Williams, Julian Horrobin, Carl Moore, Tom Reed (capt), Chris Thomas, Scott Phelps, John Duffin, Simon Ballinger, Craig Moore, Dale Critchley, Neil Morgan.
Replacements: Dean Large, Aaron Ryder, Dave Thomas