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Old Reigatian RFC

Old Reigatian Vs Twickenham Match Report

Old Reigatian 1st XV travelled to Twickenham Rugby Club Saturday which is in fact in Feltham which saved any clash with the 81,00 supporters travelling to Twickenham Stadium to see England take on Tonga.

Twickenham have been in the same league as ORs for many years and it has always been a tough place to visit with not many away wins taken in recent seasons. However Reigatian’s travelled with confidence with scoring over 40 points in their last two game including an impressive victory over Reeds last week ending their three year inbeaten run.

One highlight of this season is how quickly the Blue & Greens settle into the game and for the second week running Tom Woodford made his first touch of the ball scoring close to the posts. This followed a good build up and with Alex Skinner adding the extras ORs took a 0-7 lead after 4 minutes. Twickenham’s forward had suffered a hard afternoon last week against Hove and this week looked to be the same with Reigatian establishing early dominance in the scrums, however the penalties did not always go ORs way but this seemed to be a theme for the afternoon. One massive strength of the 1st XV this season has been the back five of the pack with due to great competition for place Dan Jones has moved into the second row to accommodate Jack Baart Ryan Travers and Sam Foreman in the back row and with Captain Reilly Franklin – Talbot more than capable of playing No8 the pack is extremely mobile and all have the handling skills to enable a fifteen man style of play. In minutes fourteen and nineteen Dan Jones and Jack Baart showed these skills to appear on the end of multiple phases of play to finish of great tries for the team. Skinner adding the extras to Jones’ try 0 – 19 OR’s scoring at a point a minute. To round the first half of Reigatian scored probably the best team try of the season so far with forwards and backs interpassing over half the length of the field with Jones and Ryan Travers showing great hands to put Skinner in under the posts Half Time 0 – 26 and a bonus point earned.

The Twickenham ground has a definite slope down towards the Clubhouse and Saturday a strong wind working with the sloop. Reigatian had the benefit of both slope and wind in the first half so the second half was always going to be more of a challenge. After ten minutes Twickenham showed they were not going give up too easily with some good handling and then the Hooker showed a turn of pace we haven’t seen before to beat some soft defence to score under the posts the conversion never in doubt 7-26. Reigatian reacted well and worked their way up the slope and after a number of phases Travers looked to be held up short by showed great strength to drive over the line for Reigatian’s fifth try of the afternoon. With the scoreline looking comfortable it was time to bring on some fresh legs. Michael Sejean replacing George Wheeler, Seb Courtney Walker coming on for Dan Jones and finally Jack Leech taking over at flyhalf for Ben Holder. Courtney Walker made an immediate impact and showcased the strength in depth in this position with a storming run from his own half to score no doubt the best individual try of the afternoon breaking a number of tackles and just about keep his balance before placing the ball under the posts. Again Skinner added the conversion to make it 7 – 38. To Twickenham’s credit they rallied again scored a good try to add another seven points to their tally 14-38. But Reigatian were to have the last say having played all 80 minutes find tight head prop Toby Collister on the end of a multi phase play and get his first try of the season seemed the teams must popular scorer of the day. Again another 40 plus point victory to move them to fourth in the league. Eastleigh await for next Saturday back at Park Lane they their 60 point victory over Hove it should be a great game.

Twickenham 14 – 45 Old Reigatian

1.Ciaran Nestor, 2.George Wheeler, 3. Toby Collister, 4. Reilly Franklin-Talbot, 5.Dan Jones, 6.Sam Foreman, 7.Jack Baart, 8. Ryan Travers, 9. Alex Skinner, 10. Ben Holder, 11. Finn Coyle,12. Rob Williamson, 13. Max Coyle, 14.Harrison Mitchell, 15. Tom Woodford 16. Michael Sejean, 17, Seb Courtney-Walker, 17. Jack Leech

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