Sat 14 Sep 2019
A well fought battle between 2 very determined sides took place in glorious sunshine at Rose Hill. The Abbots had an experimental line up with a number of debutants but it didn’t show with Abbey dominating from the start in the forwards. Whether at line outs, scrums or open play, Abbey’s forwards, led by captain Martin Collier were almost unplayable. Great blitz defensive work restricted the visitors to kicks at the posts which the finally converted to take a 3-0 lead. The lead didn’t last long though as Abbey executed their territory strategy to perfection and a series of rolling mauls from line outs led to Abbey’s first try scored by non other than our fearless captain. Callum, on his debut slotted the conversion from the corner as Abbey led 7-3. Abbey maintained that lead until the half time break despite losing their fly half to a yellow card due to a high tackle. The visitors shortly after also had a man in the sun bin so the numbers were even. The second half was much more even with both sides seeing equal shares on the ball. A try from the visitors gave them a 10-7 lead before a penalty was awarded to Abbey and Callum once again slotted the kick to even the scores at 10-10. After much defensive resolve, Beaconsfield broke the deadlock scoring in the corner to take a 15-10 lead. Another penalty and a runaway try from Ed Wisener resulted in a 18-15 lead for Abbey and despite an incredible attempt from the visitors, the defence held on to secure the victory! To a man, the Abbots were sensational in defence and took their chances going forward. A hard fought win, played with strength, passion, determination and skill. Huge respect for our 2 men of the match! Max Boucher - superb play when playing at wing and centre but most impressive of all when he slotted into fly half when we went a man down. Composure and game management personified Josh Beale - rampaging runs from start to finish. Terrorised their defence throughout and dominated at line outs! An absolute monster performance. If we bring this level of fight and grit to every game then this league better watch out!!! Special mention of Martin David Collier who’s captaincy controlled our play! #EarnItOwnItLoveIt
