Rugby club gain their first point of the season
By Jim Morgan at Castle Fields on Tuesday, 5th October 2010.
With the introduction of the extra point for four tries and one point if you lose by less than seven points, Haverhill picked up a bonus point by narrowly losing to the Wash coast visitors of Holt.
Talk before the game focused on the need for Haverhill to get something from the game, and the team certainly achieved this.
Haverhill soaked up pressure from Holt in the early minutes, with some great defensive work by the backs, with Patrick and Ewens on the wing and the new centre pairing of Woods and Gibson working hard in defence.
Haverhill welcomed back Jake Plumridge at fly half and were not disappointed by a commanding performance, linking well with captain Gavin Hope at scrum half.
Holt showed great discipline Haverhill and never quite got through the defence, but Holt could not break through the Haverhill forward or back lines.
On 25 minutes, Ewens put up a great Garryowen kick, meeting the descending ball to panic Holt into playing foul, giving Haverhill a chance to go for the posts. Ewens' kick went right of the post, keeping the score at 0-0.
Two minutes later, the referee carded the Holt number eight for a tackle after the whistle, but Haverhill did not make use of the rewarded penalty and did not kill the Holt team for the cheap shot on Ewens.
Play see-sawed up and down the park, and on the stroke of half-time, Holt had a scrum inside their half, when Hope, spoiling the ball at will, created a chance for Cooper to punch through the defence, setting up a drop goal chance for Plumridge that just missed the uprights, leaving the score 0-0 at the turn.
Haverhill kept attacking and defending well, but the back of the line-out was not working well on the lift of Flannery.
On 53 minutes, Haverhill won a penalty and kick to within ten metres of the Holt line. Coach Price took the opportunity to bring on the powerhouse of Ransome, substituting Curtis, allowing Flannery to move to number eight and Anderson back to open side flanker.
Haverhill won the line, but lost the ball in the loose and Holt saved what should have been Haverhill points.
On 62 minutes, the stalemate was finally broken when the Haverhill back crossed the gain line and gave a penalty to Holt in front of the posts, which was happily taken.
The effect of Ransome on the park was showing and the Haverhill attack was finally rewarded with a penalty in front of the posts, which Ewens converted making the score 3-3 on 68 minutes, but a silly play off the floor three minutes later led to a converted penalty by Holt making the score 3-6.
Jackson replaced Quinney with ten minutes to go and Haverhill continued to attack the Holt line, but failed to cross for that all-elusive win. The one point was greeted with well-deserved applause, as the hope for a consolidation of position was kick-started.
Haverhill travel to Fakenham next week. Let's hope the players support the coaching staff with attendance at training and on match day.
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