By Frank Stormont
November 28 2006

Albion take another 5 points at home and end up in second place after the weekend.  

Albion 40 Waterloo 7

With periodic rain and gusts of wind Albion play hosts to Waterloo. The Ladies had already just beaten Waterloo just over an hour before.

Waterloo start the match by kicking off towards the club house but the wind assists the ball to go straight into touch for the game to be restarted with a scrum on the halfway line.

Albion had an early chance to put points on the board when after 3 minutes Waterloo were penalised for lack of binding at the scrum 40 metres out.  Wihan Neethling attempted to move the kicking tee to an area less muddy, and nearer the centre of the pitch, but the referee pointed to a spot 2 metres away where the offence took place.  The ball missed to the right and the referee called for the ball, tested it with his hands before asking for the ball to be changed.

With only 6 minutes on the clock Waterloo full back kicked the ball towards the left hand corner and with chasing backs Albion managed to ground the ball as it crossed the line for a 22 drop out.

The first points were eventually put on the board on 10 minutes as Tom Arscott collected the ball just inside the Waterloo half and ran through the middle of the defence dodging 5 or 6 players before diving, in his own characteristic way, to score just to the left of the posts for his third of the season. Wihan added the extras.

Just 3 minutes later Ben Gulliver picked the ball up to make a dash for the line and passed it to 'Big C' Colin Stewart on the 22 and after a half tackle attempt that made him stumble he made it to the line and imitated Tom Arscott's dive to score in virtually the same spot. With the conversion by Wihan it looked as though a high scoring game was going to result despite the wet conditions.

An opportunity to score three points, on 20 minutes, when Waterloo were caught offside went begging as the ball sailed left of the posts.

Although attempts on the Waterloo try line were made no more were successful this half until with just a minute left of normal time a Waterloo flanker was shown the yellow card for a professional foul when he was judged to have pulled the maul down. With a man down Albion took the advantage in the last play of the half and when Nic Sestaret joined the back of the driving the maul before pealing of to the left and score his 10th try of the season. Nic moves himself into 2nd place of most tries in the league.  Wihan kicking from the left hand touch line, who had already missed two easier attempts, slotted a massive kick to bring the halftime score to 21 - 0.

The Albion team are changed for almost the first time this season, their muddy white tops are replaced by the black "change" strip. Waterloo come out with some motivation and with a man down are determined not to allow Albion to take advantage of it. Six minutes into the second half the teams are equalised by the sin binning of Keni Fisilau for a high tackle. 

After the first sin bin is reversed and Waterloo have the extra man when Ed Barnes attempts to clear from his own 22 his kick out is charged down and two Waterloo backs chase the ball to the corner where they touch down which was then converted, off a mound of sand, from the touch line.

With a Wihan and Tom Arscott move allowing Albion to break the first line of defence to almost make it to the line. Within in 2 minutes however with Albion making two attempts to cross the line with a driving maul only to have it pulled down the referee loses patients and awards a penalty try under the posts before showing to Waterloo number 1. 

With the match won, the bonus point secured and only 12 minutes left on the clock, mass substitutions are made with James Owen, Nat Saumi and for his debut Francisco Deformes come on to replace Richard Oxley, Wihan Neethling and Scott  Zimmerman. Shortly after Arran Cruickshanks came on for Keni Fisilau.

A catch and drive move that saw the Albion pack virtually run over the line with James Owen carrying the ball to touch down. After this the final substitutions were made which saw Mat Newman in at scrum half and Chris Lowrie replace captain Danny Thomas with only minutes to play.

With the final play of the game Regardt van Eyk kicked forward and collected the ball before Tom Arscott ran forward before selflessly passing to Nat Saumi to score in the corner. With Wihan off the pitch it fell to Ed Barnes to convert the try from the touch line.

A well deserved win for Albion and the bonus point what more could you ask for? It was certainly another entertaining match in front of what could be described as a disappointing crowd of 1971 being the smallest home gate of the season, but the weather predictions were bad and Argyle were playing a big match at home. All I can say is that the 600 plus that stayed away you missed a great match.

Tim Matias made his first start since he rejoined the club during the summer, Francisco Deformes makes his debut and James Owen scores his first try for Albion.

With Pirates going down to Otley away Albion move up the table and stay top for 24 hours.

MORE PHOTOS

Team: Wihan Neethling, Tom Arscott, Regardt Van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Tim Mathias, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Colin Stewart, Ben Gulliver, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Tom Hayes Replacements: Matt Newman(used), Arran Cruickshanks(used), Nat Saumi(used), Francisco Deformes(used), Chris Lowrie(used), James Owen(used), Martin Rice

Scorers :- Tries Colin Stewart, Nat Saumi, Nic Sestaret, James Owen, Tom Arscott, Penalty Try Conversions Ed Barnes, 4x Wihan Neethling

Yellow Card: Keni Fisilau (High tackle)

Official Man of the Match Ben Gulliver don't forget to vote for your man of the match , you don't have to be registered to vote.

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TABLES

Highest points scorer
	Player	Team	Cons	Pens	DG	Tries	Pts
1	Alberto Di Bernardo	Pirates	35	33	1	2	182
2	Leigh Hinton	Leeds	35	28	0	3	169
3	Wihan Neethling	Albion	33	23	0	4	155
4	Phil Jones	Sedgley Park	20	22	0	4	126
5	Tim Walsh	Newbury	16	23	3	2	120

Most Tries in League
	Player	Team	Tries	Pts
1	Jason Forster	Doncaster	13	65
2	Nic Sestaret	Albion	10	50
	Rhodri McAtee	Pirates
4	Brian Tuohy	Titans	9	45
	Mal Roberts	Newbury
	Thomas Rock	Leeds Tykes

League Table
Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	BP	PTS
Leeds	13	11	0	2	422	240	10	54
Albion	13	11	0	2	369	169	8	52
Titans	13	10	0	3	423	192	12	52
Pirates	13	10	0	3	424	194	10	50
Doncaster	13	10	0	3	362	184	10	50
Bedford	13	7	1	5	391	303	11	41
Pertemps Bees	13	7	1	5	337	348	10	40
Coventry	13	6	1	6	262	285	6	32
Exeter	13	6	1	6	271	283	4	30
Newbury	13	6	0	7	283	308	4	28
Nottingham	13	4	0	9	322	362	9	25
Otley	13	5	0	8	221	319	3	23
London Welsh	13	3	0	10	234	374	4	16
Moseley	13	2	0	11	230	432	6	14
Sedgley Park	13	2	0	11	231	446	6	14
Waterloo	13	2	0	11	205	548	1	9

Best defensive record
Team	F	A
Albion	369	169
Doncaster	362	184
Titans	423	192
Pirates	424	194
Leeds	422	240
Exeter	271	283
Coventry	262	285
Bedford	391	303
Newbury	283	308
Otley	221	319
Pertemps Bees	337	348
Nottingham	322	362
London Welsh	234	374
Moseley	230	432
Sedgley Park	231	446
Waterloo	205	548

 

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Next week sees Albion and Westcountry Warriors travel to London to play matches against London Welsh and Richmond on Saturday.  Westcountry Warriors are also away to Launceston ('Lanson') on the Monday KO 7:30.