Away Vs Old Glynonians 10/10/09

An autumnal trip to Ewell saw Egham take on ‘Old Glyn’. Last year saw two difficult games resulting in heavy losses after holding the score at half time, so whilst Egham had performed well in their opening game, expectations were hopeful at best.

Saturday was an exhibition in defence, and whilst defending for 70 minutes is not the direction that Egham needs to be heading,  the fact that no tries came through the centres or round the fringes, marked a dramatic improvement on previous outings. The first try came mid-way through the first half after a well worked move resulted in a 2 on 1 down the blindside. A missed penalty on the stroke of half time left the score at 5-0.

From the start of the second half, Egham were forced to repel a number of attacks through well placed kicks and the inability of the away pack to dominate the set piece caused a series of lineouts on the Egham line. The resulting pushover try was a sucker punch in what had been a determined defensive performance.

The resulting conversion was wide and after a relatively straight penalty miss, Egham were still holding on at 10-0, without the chance to release a quick and strong back line. Opportunities to counter attack came through the excellent work of Stuart turner at Scum half, however mistakes from resulting brakes and passes all too often resulted  in turnover ball as time ran out. Unfortunately a good final kick and chase  resulted in the covering full back being left isolated, and from the turn-over an easy try was scored.

Final score: Old Glyn 17- Egham 0

This was a good performance from Egham and each point was as a result of mistakes by Egham as opposed to outstanding play by the opposition. A lack of set piece ball and trying to play too much rugby in their own half didn’t help to provide the spark that Egham so drastically needed . Jonny Kaltner was able to make a few breaks down his wing, the centre partnership of Paddy and Jack was very strong and the front row held their own against opposition.  However, it was the body on the line performance of Stuart turner that stood out and richly deserved the MOTM pint.

By Hugh Strivens