Rugby Report v Mill Hill

Rugby Report – Mill Hill

After a comfortable 55-0 victory over Sir William Borlase School in the 2nd round of the Natwest Cup the 1st XV welcomed a strong Mill Hill side, in which they knew, to be one of the toughest games of the season.

 It was obvious that Mill Hill’s game plan was to be physical and looked to dominate the early exchanges.  Pangbourne managed to absorb this sustained period of pressure and cleared their lines but not however before Jake Leach’s try saving tackle on their monster of a prop! This seemed to awake the red army and after a strong break in mid field from the ever impressive Stuart McLeish they launched their attack on the North London sides try line. Pangbourne started to string phases and patterns together stretching Mill Hill to the full. Only some incredible tackling kept them at bay. Despite Pangbourne taking the edge in the first half the scores ended 0-0.

The Red army started the half the stronger and were the better of the two sides. After Sam Rossiter’s penalty went agonisingly under the cross bar there was a nervous feeling that all this pressure would not lead to any points. However, the next passage would break the deadlock and after a cracking line from full back Dan Nelson, slicing open the defence, he then had the power to dive for the line and get the ball down, holding off three players. An impressive individual effort! Rossiter slotted the conversion and Pangbourne were finally rewarded for their sustained pressure. With twenty minutes left there was plenty more rugby to play. With clever kicks to the corner from James Townsend the Pangbourne side started to really state their authority. The match winning opportunity came as the ball was spun out wide and a lovely in to out line from Doug Jefferis he released the ball drawing the last defender unfortunately the ball was put down and once again Pangbourne just failed to finish it off.

 With minutes left on the clock and Pangbourne failing to clear their lines and play rugby in the opposition’s half, led to a defending 5 metre scrum and Mill Hill’s number 8 scoring. Excellent skills demonstrated by their kicker who calmly slotted the conversion from close enough the touchline to tie the game at 7-7. A frustrating end, as Pangbourne was the stronger of the two sides, but unfortunately was unable to convert all their pressure into points.

The team of the week performance came from the 2nd XV with a 40-14 win. Tries came from Ben Bowman and Harry Farrant with two, Harry Campbell and Ed Nall. Men of the match were Theo Grabiner and Harry Farrant slotting 5 out of 6 conversions as well. The U16B team were also close contenders of team of the week, agonisingly conceding in the dying minutes, drawing the game 12-12. A fantastic achievement and shows how far they have come. Top performances came from Sam ‘the tank’ Turner and Greer Brunting. The U15B side won 24-17 in a physical and competitive match, well done to them.

Next weekend brings us to the biggest games of the season, local derby against Shiplake! We all need to put in a dedicated week of training to ensure the result we deserve.