Malt bounce back from Brid disappointment
RF
The first ever league encounter between us and Dronfield wasn’t a classic, but it was a day aimed to rekindle form from two weeks. A lovely sunny day greeted supporters and guests as they gathered in front of the top pitch as all the players from the six teams lined in unison to pay respects to Marilyn Newsome whom sadly passed away late last week.
Malt kicked off towards the 64 with a light breeze on their backs were able to keep dronfield mostly camped in their own half for the first 15 minutes, despite the territory we couldn’t breakthrough the committed tackles they were offering.
Our pre made back line included a forward and 3 lads playing only their 2nd game of the season. Dronfield on occasion stretched us with their unbelievably rapid winger leading the charge up the right wing, only a great cover tackle for fullback Jones stopping us falling behind.
The lads from Dronfield had no answer once we were able to gain quick ball, a couple of offside pens gave us field position in the 22nd minute, following a catch and drive, James Bulmer saw forward come winger Tom Barker in acres of space, a searching cross field bounced perfectly for Barks to cross the line and dot down. Bull knocked over the easy extras. 7 – 0 23 mins
Dronfield looking to get parity quickly took the restart and gathered, gaining good ground looked to move the ball but a good hit from Vaughany and a quick turnover from Matty B allowed us to stretch up field looking for that second. It nearly came when Matt went over in the corner but it was ruled someone knocked on, however from the resulting scrum the ball was turned and three phases later Matt did grab a deserved try, Bull again slotting the two. 14 – 0 28 mins
Dronfield remarkably slower to restart this time hoisted the ball high a clean take from skipper Triff who led the charge up the middle was finally taken down inside the Dronfield half. We shipped the ball midfield where Dylan Jones took over and the slippery 19 year old tore a hole through Dronfield to score his first senior XV try. Bull yet again pumped the ball through the sticks
21- 0 31 mins
Half time soon came with not much else happening.
The second half was rather uneventful, if you were a scrum fanatic this was a half of rugby made for you.
Malt knocked on the door plenty of times but just doing a little too much rather than playing their simple patterns. Some bullying runs from forwards Salisbury & Emms which earned him forward of the Match.
30 minutes passed and with errors creeping in it was Malton’s ill-discipline which cost them their 2nd nilling of the season. Two consecutive scrum penalties allowed Dronfield positon to quick tap from, following a little bit of unawareness from the retreating front row. Dronnies 8 picked a hole and ran through only to offload to the scrum half who then fed the backline sending the winger cantering over followed by a big conversion from the sideline.
21 – 7 with 6 minutes to go
Following the restart Malt’s endeavour to grab the bonus point and finally put the game to bed was plain to see, only to fall foul of the ref’s whistle twice. A big clearing kick into the corner set up a big finish. Despite Dronfield’s best efforts hitting the game line for the full four remaining minutes, Malton’s defence stayed strong and tight. A mistake finally in midfield was spotted by the Referee who yet again was great and honest to both teams. The whistle was welcomed by the Malton faithful.
Picking up this weeks performances were
Player of the Match Liam Vaughan
Forward to watch Sean Emms
Run it Back, Back of the Match Harry Coulson
Next week we head to Old Brodleians and there are places on the bus to supporters at the cost of £10 please contact Jon Richards (JR)
Team
15 Dylan Jones 1 try
14 Nick Embleton
13 Will Bell
12 Harry Coulson
11 Tom Barker 1 try
10 James Bulmer 3 cons.
9 Paul Angus
1 Ian Salisbury
2 Ryan Donaghy
3 Liam Vaughan
4 Will Dunn
5 Sean Emms
6 Jaime Rounthwaite
7 Matt Bowman 1 try
8 Sam Triffitt
Subs (all used)
16 Rob Featherstone
17 Charlie Read
18 Stu Collins
