Malton and Norton RUFC

HARD GRAFT EARNS NARROW WIN.

James Knock

Three months ago Malton suffered at the hands of a rampant Brid outfit. Today they put that firmly behind and with a contentious decision in their favour made much of by the Brid management, won a hard fought battle which did credit to the 36 combatants and the man with the whistle who took to the pitch.
Malton kicked off towards the town end with the low sun in their eyes, and the week’s wet weather provided a testing surface with a slippery top four inches together with a variable bounce which played their part in proceedings.
Camped in Brid’s half for the opening ten minutes Malton displayed their wares winning the battle up front and any ball kicked to them was run back at high tempo especially by the home no15 who when changing direction must have made a mental note to change his studs at half time as he invariably slipped and fell on the tricky surface.
On fourteen minutes the third scrum of the game saw the Malton eight shove the Brid pack who had lost a prop to a yellow card on ten minutes a full fifteen metres towards their line. A perfectly timed pick up at the base by Triffitt was fed to Angus who in turn transferred to a swiftly moving Bell who gratefully accepted the try converted by Bulmer.
Malton then reverted to form and gave away three consecutive penalties on minutes 17, 18 and 19 to put themselves in their own red zone, but Brid failed to capitalise.
Heavy duty work by the home pack helped to place Malton back in the Brid half and a clever, attacking, delicate chip kick to touch from Bulmer put them in prime position for an attacking line out but the visitor’s defence was solid, and working their way back up to the Malton end earned a penalty duly converted in the thirty second minute.
From the kick off courtesy of an excellent chase Malton earned a penalty 25 metres out and several metres wide of the posts but chose to kick for touch in coffin corner. The ball was unfortunately kicked dead and Brid cleared their lines. Moments later a two on one went begging when the Malton no15 deciding he did not need the supporting winger on his inside put his head down and charged for the line but was brought down 5 metres short leaving his side with a slender 4 point lead at half-time.

With the sun no longer having any influence on play and a request from the referee for the floodlights to be lit the second half got under way with a loose ball hacked through by Bulmer and Brid under pressure ceded a penalty. The home dug out without waiting for a nod from the skipper rapidly dispatched the kicking tee to play its part in the resulting three points stretching the lead to 6 points in the 43rd minute.
From the restart Brid pressured Malton and a blocking manoeuvre by Vaughan earned him 10 minutes in the sin bin and the visitor’s an easy 3 points. Malton’s discipline or rather lack of it was now starting to rear its ugly head with an increasing penalty count which on a firmer surface might have counted more against them.
However on minute 52 Stephenson was steaming up the clubhouse side of the pitch and with one man to beat 30 metres out and no support close to him put a perfect kick past the lone defender up the touch line and was impeded in the chase and barged into touch. Following a bit of argy bargy and back chat the referee who had initially decided on a touch line penalty proceeded to a position under the Brid sticks raised his arm and Malton were as a result 11 points clear. This decision, and it is rare to see a penalty try awarded from so far out, incensed the Brid president and dug out who unwisely and unsporting made their feelings plain to the referee every time he blew his whistle in Malton’s favour in so doing not helping their 15 men on the pitch.
On the pitch meanwhile Brid worked a copybook try after a period of sustained pressure and put their winger over 7 metres in from the touch line on the stand side and a well struck conversion closed the gap to 4 points with 10 minutes remaining.
Malton now displayed their grit and closed out the game to earn a result that could have gone either way and in so doing retained 3rd place in the league.
Of concern to the Malton coaching staff was the discipline or rather a lack of it and an unacceptable high penalty count approaching the 2 score mark which on a different day and surface might have made them pay a heavy price.
But on the plus side following a 5 week layoff and no doubt a permitted fortnight’s disregard to diet and alcohol intake the 18 men who provided the large crowd with a solid afternoon’s entertainment should take quiet satisfaction in a job well done.

Next week sees the club’s first visit to Dronfield RUFC and I hope as many as can will make the trip to mark the occasion and support the boys!

Malton:   Ali Fothergill,  Ben Tenge,  Will Bell,  Tom Foan,  Jacob Stephenson,  James Bulmer,  Paul Angus,  Liam Vaughan,  Matt Bowman,  Rob Featherstone,  Sean Emms,  Will Dunn,  Jamie Rounthwaite,  Tom Lowry,  Sam Triffitt (c)

Subs:   (all used)   Charlie Reed,  Nick Salisbury,  Tom Stone.

Scorers:   Will Bell   1 try
                  Penalty Try
                  James Bulmer 1 con, 1 pen.