Malton and Norton RUFC

With the temperature in the low twenties Malton kicked off towards the town and an early turnover was knocked on and one minute later the same player gave away a high tackle penalty, position and advantage lost! From the penalty Rochdale moved up the park for a brief visit to the Malton business end.
Fresh from his Far East travels returning no10 Poole showed he has not lost his touch with the boot with a fine clearance on first asking to send his side back to the Rochdale 30 metre zone. The next 20 minutes were spent camped in this area of the pitch with limited success apart from the odd promising foray to the visitor’s red zone.
On 7 minutes 3 strong offensive tackles by Malton put Rochdale on the back foot giving up a penalty which Malton chose to put into the corner rather than attempting a shot at goal. Rochdale took possession at the line and cleared their lines.

The next thirteen minutes were all Malton and with Bulmer breaking with a shimmy and chipping over the defence the visiting fullback carried over to concede a 5 metre scrum to the left of the sticks. Both sides changed a member of the front row union with Malton wheeling on prop Featherstone for some heavy duty grunt. A couple of scrums later the home side received their reward earning a penalty under the uprights and 3 points via the boot of Poole. 3-0 to Malton in the 22nd minute.
With 80% territory coupled with 70% possession in this opening third of the game one might have expected more but opening game rustiness seemed to inhibit Malton and from the sideline it was painful to watch the basic errors committed by an experienced home outfit who have now been together for several seasons.

Malton’s score now galvanised the visitors who demonstrated why their backs will be a force to be reckoned with in this league.
Rochdale’s forwards now started to produce ball for their backs to move it wide at speed the back 3 especially looking quick and dangerous. On one occasion they had a 2 on 1 fifteen metres out but great covering by Barker dealt with the situation tackling the ball carrier before he could pass and preventing a certain try.
Malton now on the rack gave up a touch line penalty in the 28th minute in their 10 metre zone and Rochdale took the 5 points on offer with copybook line out work.

In the 33rd minute a high tackle from Browne earned him 10 minutes in the bin and Rochdale wasted no time in exploiting the extra man with a clever and now commonplace kick pass for the winger to score despite a tackle which left him on his back but he had the nouse to reach over his head to dot down for 5 points only and give his side a 7 point halftime lead.

The 2nd half opened with the visitors kicking deep and from a line out in the 42nd minute a peeling prop crashed over for a simple 5 points with Malton’s tail end guard awol. The next 10 minutes play was from Malton’s viewpoint a total reversal of the opening 25 minutes and a suspicion of a lack of fitness up front did not help matters.
The introduction of Tom Stone soon put matters to right and with him leading from the front the pack roused themselves from their lethargy and started to produce quality ball and pressurise Rochdale and in minute 56 a totting up yellow for the visitors and the subsequent converted penalty put Malton back in the hunt.
On 60 minutes Foster was held up over the line following a burst of intense pressure in the visitor’s red zone. Three minutes later Featherstone suffered the indignity of also being held up over the line. Moments later Stone made no mistake forcing his way over to put Malton 2 points adrift with a converted try.
From the kick off Malton collected and then came a moment of Bulmer magic with a show of the ball and a 3 metre burst to wrong foot the opposing backs and making 30 metres before the speedy backtracking winger caught him. However a backhand flip from Bulmer was picked up by the supporting backs and 2 minutes and several phases later Featherstone treated his admirers in the crowd to his trademark rumble over the whitewash from very short range to put Malton in the lead.
Rochdale did not give up and gave up a promising position when their coach who was several metres outside his clearly marked designated area found a referee in no mood to suffer abuse/advice and backchat from a person who should know better. He awarded a penalty to Malton which they used to clear the threat and minutes later take the spoils.
Today was a lesson in not giving up when the chips are down and it could be argued that both sides had done enough to earn a victory but on balance Malton’s discipline was slightly better than that of their visitors.
Next week a feast of rugby starting in Paris on Friday evening, continuing on Saturday when Malton take 3 sides to Scarborough 15.00 hrs kick off and finishing in Marseilles at 20.00hrs when we hope England put their recent woeful displays behind them and take Argentina to the cleaners!

Malton:  Nick Salisbury,  John Vasconcelos,  Liam Vaughan,  Sean Emms,  Will Dunn,  Thomas Barker,  Tom Lowry,  Charlie Read,  Paul Angus,  Shane Poole,  Eddie Browne,  James Bulmer,  Tom Foan(c),  Jacob Stephenson,  Blair Foster.
Subs: all used. 
Rob Featherstone, Tom Stone, Rohan Simpson.

Scorers:   Poole  2 pens  1 Con
                 Stone  1 try
                 Featherstone  1 try