Crawley 25 – Burgess Hill 7
This Saturday saw a return to cup action for the Bulldogs, in the semi-final of the Sussex Salver, the opponents this time saw Burgess Hill 3rd XV make the short trip down the A23 to Willoughby Fields.
With the excitement of cup fever and over 30 players making themselves available, Coach Steve Silver should be given a huge amount of credit for sticking to his morals and selecting a genuine 3rd team from the hugely successful return to rugby scheme.
The game itself started as most do at this level with both sets of forwards very evenly matched with a few tit for tat ball carries, from here Crawley managed to get the ball wide for Back row turned inside centre Nick Nabney crossing over for the first try of the game.
From here Crawley had a platform to work from and although the pack wasn’t dominant in the scrum it certainly was from the lineout with flanker Alex Saul winning a very high proportion of the lineouts, halfway through the first half Skipper Dave Bevan in his first game back after a 6-week layoff due to injury, crossed the whitewash in the corner with a trade mark crash ball to take his season tally into double figures.
Next came a try for strong running full back Guy Craddock, after receiving the ball in midfield and slipping several tackles he left the Burgess Hill defence chasing his heels before scoring the 3rd try of the game.
Shortly after Half time, saw Burgess Hill get a well-deserved try, another strong attack from Crawley saw the home full back stuck in the bottom of a ruck and with a lack of cover and a turnover ball with a kick and chase from Burgess Hill saw them sprint up field to register their first score of the game, with a successful conversion.
Crawley weren’t down hearted though and from the kick came straight back at the visitors, scrum half Grant Woolard, getting the 4th try for Crawley with a strong run and crash.
Crawley still had a little left in the tank though, with the referee’s watch showing the game in its last moments, Crawley Skipper crashed through the resilient Burgess Hill defence for his 2nd try of the game much to the dismay of his team mates, and with that the whistle was blown and Crawley were through to the Final!
Can there be a fairy tale ending for this team that was created only this summer, with a mixture of veterans and some players in their very first season of rugby?
Only time will tell, but whatever the result this group of players should be extremely proud of what they’ve achieved this season, far surpassing the early season expectations.
Return to Rugby sessions continue every Tuesday at 7.30pm, aimed at the more social player and low impact rugby.
Line up:
Sean Collins
Ian Cotton
Karl Vye-Parminter
Tony Parsons
Dave Bevan (c)
Alex Saul
Lee Kamble
Jason Watts
Grant Woolard
Liam Webb
Mike Mcausland
Nick Nabney
Jaques Nell
AJ Leonard
Guy Craddock
Rep:
James Morton
John Ruffhead
Ben Rees
David Taylor
Andy Rhychlowski
Rod Taylor
Alex Spencer