Quintin 1^st team vrs Phoenix 2nds (away) 24^th Jan 08

Won 22-18

After last weeks shocker we arrived at Phoenix determined not just to win but to play together like a team, something definitely missing in the Passchendale/Watford mud last week. Unfortunately the conditions weren’t any better to play the sort of rugby we wanted however Quintin started brightly, and it wasn’t long before Kerr made an excellent break from 10 to release Sanger for an easy run in.

The next ten minutes were spent camped around the Quintin 22, but excellent defense combined with some high-class butchery meant Phoenix left without points and were made to pay when the second foray into their territory led to another try. As if Sanger scoring the first wasn’t bad enough, the second was scored by the only less popular scorer in the club, Adam Smith, foraging like a stray dog around the base of the ruck on the line – scoring less and less these days, you’d have to go back several seasons to find a try of his which doesn’t rightfully belong to the pack.

The second half saw more pressure from Phoenix, this time leading to results. First, a penalty from in front of the sticks followed quickly by a try on the right after some poor tackling to take them to within a score. As Quintin seemed unable to play in the right half, again they broke through to score, this time aided in no small part by a shocking piece of refereeing, failing to pick up on their flanker blatantly obstructing new boy Aussie Tom to allow the scrummy to drift through and score. Fortunately they missed the conversion to leave us in front 14-13, and almost immediately Sanger kicked a penalty as simple as some of those Jean-Baptiste Elissalde missed at The Rec the next day to give a bit more breathing space.

Following the penalty we looked like the better side and the eventual winners, but our course was harmed massively after a punch-up led to a yellow card for Alex, leaving us a man down until the last 5 minutes. Not long later Howard, who replaced Smith at scrum-half, scored the try of the day with a beautiful break and sidestep, to seemingly take the match beyond doubt. However, that was reckoning without our superb try-conceding ability, and constant battering round the fringes of the rucks eventually led to the final score of the day, Quintin eventually holding on at 22-18.

Man of the Match: Kerr – in a burns night special, he set up a try, sidestepped several fatties in various places (which is more than Rich managed) and generally looked lively. Hoots and crivvens!

Girl of the match: Adam – was it for the Cipriani chargedown or the up-and-under that landed several feet from his outstretched arms as he screamed “MINE!!!!!”? No-one is sure, but in his absence Rich was fed the white wine for foolishly getting in Damo’s way, as well as watching football in the pub.