GWRnov

10/11/2007:

GWR 10 – Quintin 20

Despite their best efforts, Quintin scrape a win in languid game.

If I hadn’t seen his well turned calves, I could’ve sworn in was Cancel I was listening to rather than 2nd team dropout Damo as I got changed into my kit. As he roared across the changing room such outrageous bravado such as “I will not take a backward step in the scrum – I am the Lion King – hear me roar”; I had a horrible feeling that he may be forced to eat his words. And so it proved – the GWR forwards were fired up for this game and came at the Quintin pack from the off. The first scrum was a sign of things to come – GWR having the upper hand and making Rob’s job at No 8. a tricky one.
The game was not at the intensity that we have become used to when playing teams nearer the top of the league, and we allowed our basics to slip. In prior games we would have given a player lying over the ball a good shoeing – here we were not nearly aggressive enough.

Quintin were first to score, with Phil settling Quintin’s nerves and Sanger converting. The sides exchanged a few more penalties before half time, with the score going into the break 10-3.

The second half was not much better for Quintin and GWR began to get the upper hand. Our lineout, while looking good in practice sessions, was misfiring more than ex-Camptain Michelle Gayvor’s deux chevaux. GWR started to put us under pressure and scored under the posts to bring them to within 3 points of Quintin. Sanger calmed the Quintin nerves with another penalty and with five minutes on the clock, Quintin appeared content to count the clock down, but Sanger was having none of it, and ran through their tiring defence for another 7 points

Men of the Match: Rob/Ryan for giving us much needed aggression
Girls of the Match: Damo – for talking a good talk, but being reamed in the scrum.
Cooney: What the hell was the lineout pass to Smythe about?

As Sanger pointed out after the game, it is a sign of a good team that they win even though they played poorly. Make no mistake, this was not a high point of our season - I think this is for two reasons. Firstly, I think we were dragged down to GWR’s level; it is easy to use this as an excuse, but my contact at London French said they had exactly the same problem the week before. Secondly, I feel that Quintin, much like some of the French European Cup teams, have a certain arrogance about them. When we play a good side such as French or BA, we generally come out with all guns blazing. However, against a side that has individuals of lesser ability, we feel that there is no need to wind ourselves up. However, what we forget is that a team is more than the sum of its parts, and to a large extent, GWR showed this.