Malton and Norton 3rd Team 21 vs Scunthorpe 3rd Team 0
Marcus Lyon
Scunthorpe thirds have a great reputation as being a team that will always travel, never cry off and are very difficult to beat. The phrase sunny Scunny always comes to mind.
For the first meeting of these two teams this season it was Malton who came out on top against a very physical Scunthorpe third string under the sunshine of Malton. The opening 10 minutes was a little bit too and fro and Malton’s early pressure forced Scunthorpe into a few mistakes with a classic no look pass from the Scunthorpe scrum-half which landed somewhere between the stand-off and inside centre (classic third team passing). Simon Gill the third string’s loose head had to leave the field with a stinger but with plenty of substitute’s team manager Pat Lane had a more than capable replacement in Nick Wilks .A resultant high tackle saw Jordan Palliser miss a relatively easy penalty. From the Scunthorpe dropout Malton fielded the ball and Brad Spiller the Malton hooker took the ball almost to the try line and after a number of clean phases Malton were held up by a very resolute Scunthorpe defence. Scunthorpe kicked deep and Malton countered with an excellent run from the mulleted Sam Page on the wing. Following quick hands and the barnstorming run by skipper Stuart Collins, Brad Spiller opened the scoring with an excellent team try. Palliser made the conversion.
That’s play continued Malton took a Scunthorpe Scrum against the head and it was Malton’s live wire scrum half, James Walker who made an excellent break, and linked up with his forwards with second row Phil North in support and a high tackle saw Malton gain another penalty. The line out was lost but Scunthorpe kicked deep where fullback Matthew Midgley was waiting and keen to counter. Next was a bizarre yellow card. Malton‘s lightest man on the pitch scrum half James Walker was deemed by the referee to have tip tackled one of Scunthorpe‘s heaviest player a prop forward. The new laws are however the new laws even though the Scunthorpe prop felt it had been a decent tackle and he simply tumbled over him with no thought of a tip tackle whatsoever. 10 minutes in the bin followed. There is then followed a bit of interplay between forwards and backs from both teams together with some robust tackles and then the whistle went for half-time with Malton leading 7-0.
Joe Oliphant replaced Phil North in the second row for Malton and the game recommenced. It must be said that the game was played in good spirit and when Palliser tried a little chip and chase he was caught accidentally by a Scunthorpe player who had the decency to ask if he was okay. Malton’s pack were playing as a solid unit and Jake Newsome in the back row set up an excellent ruck and Stuart Collins burst through a number of tackles before feeding Leon Cook at number eight for his first try with Palliser adding the extras and Malton lead 14 -0.
We then saw a passage of chuckle brothers play as neither side could hang onto the ball so a classic case of “to me,to you ,to me ,to you”. Purists might try to pass this off as ruck and counter ruck! This it definitely was not. Multiply ploughed on and from a line out John Ordidge took a clean ball and this was soon fed out to the backs but despite numerous moves the backs could not break through the Scunthorpe defence.
Scunthorpe did make great inroads into the Malton at 22 but we’re held up on a number of occasions but with sometimes let down by loose passing. One of the better examples with the banana pass from 9 to 10 which Jordan Palliser nearly intercepted.
For a brief moment veteran Duncan Humphreys thought about making his debut but is this was discussed a quick tap penalty was taken and Palliser scored an easy try. One or two players were starting to drop with cramp and perhaps extra training and fitness is required by the players possibly assisted with dietary advice. Plenty of salt on chips is my offering and to jog to pubs on a night out. The game ended with Scunthorpe enjoying a five minute passage of play camped in Malton’s 22 but failed to break through the game ended 21-0.
A massive thanks has to go to Scunthorpe for travelling and with a good squad of players, to the referee from Driffield for keeping things in order at all times and to the excellent crowd who enjoyed most excellent game free flowing rugby.
STARTERS AND FINISHERS
N Wilkes
B Spiller
J Pinks
P North
K Smith
L Cook
J Ordidge
T Hume
J Walker
J Palliser
C Biggins
S Collins (C)
C Scurfield
M Calden
M Midgley
K Milton Wright
J Newsome
G Stephenson
G Davies
D Marshall
J Oliphant
S Page
K Farrow
L O Connor
D Bakes
