St Francis 1stXV 12 Crawley 2nd XV 24

With the tensions mounting due to the mid-week hype from both camps, Crawley coach Steve Silver was able to introduce a little calming experience into the Crawley side for this week’s local derby. Plagued with injuries throughout the club this season the Crawley second string had also been struggling with consistency and a good performance was needed to boost morale and get the side back to winning ways.

From the start the visitors quickly put the Saints under pressure and earned a penalty not far from the posts but to the relief of the home side the point s were missed and allowed the lines to be cleared and play resume at the other end of the park.
The hard running St Francis centres were unable to break the visiting defences as they have in recent weeks and from a strong midfield tackle by Ross Simmons the ball was spilled allowing Moffat the opportunity to counter attack and go over for Crawleys first try.

Much of the half was played mid field with neither side making an impression and it was only some gaps left in the Saints defences that allowed Moffat in for his second followed by a jinking little run by the visiting scrum half for a score just before halftime. With a seventeen point advantage Silver made five halftime changes to the Crawley back line in a bid to test his player’s adaptability. These changes were quickly noted by the home side and by attacking the midfield hard in their trademark style were able to penetrate the defence before it had settled and register points on the scoreboard.
St Francis now started to play more of the game through their forwards and by dominating the scrum early in the half put Crawley under pressure near their line and it was not long before the pressure was converted into points under the posts as their forwards drove over the line from the back of a ruck.

Play resumed at the other end of the park and from a midfield Crawley scrum the ball went quickly to the hands of Guy Craddock who powered towards the line breaking several tackle on his way to the last score of the game.
Silver said afterwards that the introduction of a couple of experienced players into the squad had helped boost the confidence of some of the younger and less experienced players and this showed in their game today. I was very pleased with the squad’s attitude and commitment and also the outstanding performance by Chris Thompson in the back row.
This local derby has always been a big game for both clubs and apart from a couple of minor incidents, was a very good natured game. Many of the players know each other as they have played for both clubs over the years, the Saints scrum half has even played for the Crawley 1st team recently before going back to Southgate to play with his brother.