MALTON AT FULL THROTTLE
James Knock
Scoring 82 unanswered points against a club with combined proud histories is never an easy spectacle, but without condescension I can honestly say that the Bees showed tremendous spirit and played rugby to the final whistle never dropping their collective heads during the eighty minutes of play.
Malton received the kick off and immediately showed their intentions running the ball to the Bees line through Fothergill who with men in the clear outside him took the tackle without delivering the pass, his only faux pas in an otherwise faultless afternoon.
Four minutes later a powerful break by the above mentioned put the supporting Bell in for the opening 7 points.
On 9 minutes a well taken line out coupled with a drive down the touch line yielded a penalty scrum and the ball was moved right then left for a well taken converted try by hooker Lamb who sold a dummy before his touchdown.
Four minutes later a long kick for position from Bulmer and a good turnover resulting in the ball going through several pairs of hands gave the rampant Hughes his first try, again a 7 pointer to bring the score to 21-0.
Malton were now clicking as a unit and the half back pairing was distributing ball via the safe hands of Hoggard who was demonstrating all his skills with long, cut out, and delayed passes to give his three quarters a plentiful supply of options.
On 16 minutes a sweeping move down the right put Fothergill away for 5 points only.
One worrying aspect was creeping into Malton’s game with a plethora of penalties being given up thus allowing the Bees to break into the Malton half and set up their own chances.
One of these opportunities resulted in a charged down kick and an easy counter attack for winger Starbuck to show his pace and score another 7 points.
Several more penalties to the Bees put them in Malton’s 20 metre area but pulling down their jumper at a line out saw Hughes take a yellow card. The Bees took advantage and now camped on the Malton line but knocked on at a crucial moment and with the turnover Malton went the length of the pitch for Sandow to deliver the scoring pass to a surprised looking supporting 2nd rower Read for 7 points to give Malton a 42-0 half time lead.
Malton brought on Embleton shortly after the break with Starbuck giving way, and on 47 minutes Hughes scored after Triffitt picked up at the base of the scrum, drew his man, fed Fothergill who made 30 metres before connecting with Hughes who showed his class backing up and storming over for his second converted try.
Bees were still showing plenty of spirit and put a penalty kick into the corner but missed out on a line out drive 2 phases later.
Embleton was shown a yellow card on 54 minutes and the extra man gave the Bees impetus but the 10 minutes of pressure did not bring them any rewards. Malton were still giving up penalties and looked during this part of the game confused by the decisions going against them.
However on restoration to a full complement a break upfield saw Barker making good ground and connecting with Bulmer who scored the full seven points himself on 62 minutes.
Three minutes later Hoggard departed after a satisfactory afternoon and Malton reorganised to accommodate veteran 2nd rower Rounthwaite after a long layoff through injury.
On 68 minutes on his second attempt Bell picked off an easy intercept for another 7 points. Malton now rampant scored 3 more tries through Hughes for his hatrick, Embleton, and Sandow in the last minute, all converted by Bulmer to give him 92% off the tee and with his earlier try 27 points for a satisfactory afternoon’s work.
All in all a solid afternoon’s performance from the whole squad with one or two subjects to iron out at training, and it was no surprise when the Bees nominated Bell as Malton’s m.o.m. after his welcome return to form as demonstrated by his tackle count and blistering speed, sleight of hand, positional awareness, and his help in directing play from wide out, a position that suits him.
Next week we welcome Morley to the Gannock and the chance to put into practice all of the positives from today’s game.
Malton: Ali Fothergill, James Wood, Will Bell, James Bulmer, Jake Starbuck, Tom Hoggard, Rhys Sandow, Ian Salisbury, Bailey Lamb, Rob Featherstone, Will Dunn, Charlie Read, Will Hughes, Tom Barker, Sam Triffitt (c).
Subs: John Lumley, Jamie Rounthwaite, Nick Embleton, (all used).
Scorers: Bell 2 tries.
Lamb 1 try.
Hughes 3 tries.
Fothergill 1 try.
Starbuck 1 try.
Read 1 try.
Bulmer 1 try, 11 cons.
Embleton 1try.
Sandow 1 try.
