Halifax Vandals vs. Burley
2nd February 2008
1 Kelvin Crooks 2 Tom Barnes 3 Pete Shaw
4 Alex Gerrard 5 Andy Taylor
6 Dan Morrell 7 Matt Bradley 8 Jim Griffin
9 Jonny Baker
10 Tim Betts
11 Kenny Parsons 12 Gav Leeman 13 Aaron Ralph 14 Karl Heywood
15 Paul Wheeler
The Bench
17 Ben Mayes 18 Rob Stone 16 Danny Bates 19 Elliot Viles
A fixture with so much promise produced a game full of commitment and graft from two sides trying to play an exciting brand of rugby. This was an error strewn game that gave full value entertainment from the very start. The early skirmishes were played in the Vandals half of the pitch with Burley threatening to the penultimate ball of every move. Vandals countered and proved equal in losing that final ball. Burley looking the more penetrative made big inroads through Alex Gerrard a power in the second row and Matt Bradley showing some fine form in the back row. From the back of the ruck Jonny Baker continuing his dominance from the previous encounter moved the ball well in an attempt to get the backs into swing, however Tim was at times a little eager to kick and with the Vandals full back being in fine catching form the Burley attack was nullified. As the game progressed we had a short spell of old fashioned kick and clap stuff with full backs and centre's exchanging a number of high balls. This led Jim to comment something about thinking he'd found a tennis court. We soon returned to the exciting ground game and as Burley attacked down the left hand side we had our first casualty of the game as Jim Griffin making a move down the right hand touch line pulled up with shin splints and had to be replaced by Rob Stone.
Not long after Matt Bradley became the afternoons second casualty when the rather large prop like Vandals No.8 landed on his shoulder forcing him to make way for Elliot Viles. It was from here on that Burley should have taken the game as two chances were spurned in short time. Firstly great work by the pack gave a solid platform for Jonny to bring in the three quarter line with a slight of hand pass to Tim Betts, Burley having a four to three overlap only needed to move the ball along the line for a score in the corner as Tim elected to chip over the top and the full back struggling to get across the pitch gratefully accepted the ball to clear the danger. Within minutes Burley had a second chance with a gap opening to the right and the ball landing in the hands of pacy Aaron Ralph, a move right would in all probability have seen him go over towards the corner but he chose to chip and the full back again gathered and cleared. Vandals gained some confidence from their fullback and progressed up the field only to be thwarted by some fine tackles from evergreen Paul Wheeler and also Kenny Parsons on the wing. As half time approached stalemate was the most likely outcome as Burley had failed to gain advantage of the first half slope, and so it prevailed. These two sides had now played over eighty minutes against each other since a score between them. H-T 0-0.
Burley made a few changes for the second half but neither Jim nor Matt was fit to return to the fray. Matt on the advice of others already gone for a shower. The game continued much in the same mould as the first half but Vandals came more into things and were using the slope better than Burley had in the first half. In the set, the scrums were pretty equal with little going against the feed but Vandals were totally dominating the lines and referee John Parker having a reasonably easy afternoon with only the odd incident to deal with, the odd loose boot and an occasional attempt at old manning as flankers fringed in at the sides of rucks and mauls although one discression missed on nearly every scrum was the Vandals No.8 failing to pack down and only loosely what could be described as binding. Mid way through the second half Vandals produced the telling play of the game when the nig centre no.12 gathered a ball and rumbled prop like for twenty yards before releasing the supporting no.4 for what was a fine try. The score converted gave burley a 7-0 deficit. Burley picked up their game and began to frustrate the visitors gaining a succession of penalties and running up the middle with Paul Wheeler and Jonny Baker instrumental in keeping momentum, however inexplicably when approaching the final third the option was taken to find touch. Every time this was the pressure release for vandals as they took the line and cleared down the slope for Burley to bring the ball back. Gaining more momentum and confidence the ball was kept in hand Burley made a last throw of the dice as a Vandals attack was stopped around the halfway line and Burley got a boot to the ball. Tim chased up field and in gathering lost the ball against the defending Vandals player to knock on a he regathered and that was the close of a thoroughly entertaining match. If we could have done something in the lineout's and may be run a little more than we kicked the we may have got something other than a great deal of pride out of the game.
The man of the match went apparently to Aaron Ralph although your reporter would have given it to Alex Gerrard who had a commanding game in the second row. However Aaron did do the honours by winning the drink off with first team man of the match Henry Bisson.
D.Elsey