By Exile626
December 31 2013

(Apologies from Exile for the delay in getting the report to you, he gets too gets problems with his p.c. and I thought it only happened to me.) thanks Exile 626 for your trouble.  He also asks, how many Gilbert abd Sullivan songs can you spot ? PIRATES OF PENZANCE PLUNDER THE BOOTY IN CROSS TAMAR DERBY  Pray observe magnanimity, I’m telling a terrible tale. 

On a clear and dry Boxing Day Albion ventured into Cornwall for the first of this seasons cross Tamar encounters. Now for the Pirates lair.  However upon arriving at the Mennaye it soon became apparent that the vittles were a little shambolic; the pasties did not arrive until approximately half an hour before kickoff, the bar staff seemed unaware of both prices and procedures, and the coffee van whilst fully staffed were only able to serve one person at a time; this led to some saying “What ought we to do?”  The atmosphere was subdued to say the least, with both groups of supporters expecting a tight game which could go either way but hoping their team were victorious. Leading out the home team were Matt Evans & Junior Fatialofa who were both playing their 50th game for them. 

Albion playing in red (save for Lloydy who still has to use the green shorts due to the size of his thighs) kicked off and a messy passage of play resulted in a scrum to Pirates, playing in black, on their 10m line, but following an early push a free kick was awarded to Albion. The visitors tried putting some width on the ball and recycled well from the breakdown; Pirates eventually conceding a penalty on their 22. But Dan Mugford missed the 3 point kick.

Stay, we must not lose our senses. We fielded the drop out well and Herbie Stupple made a rampaging run back up field, Albion lost the ball forward about 5m inside our half. So far we had played with promise and style but a good Pirates defence and our continuing inability to keep hold of the ball were preventing any real gains. The Scrum collapsed and the home side were awarded a penalty by Mr Gamage, which they kicked into touch on our 22. Missing the jumper in the line out, an Albion player knocked on – another scrum. With both packs struggling to keep their footings on the wet and muddy pitch, the scrum was reset twice – a trend was developing – before an early push by Albion resulted in a free kick. Good defensive pressure pushed Pirates back and led to a turn over and scrum to us. Mugford kicked deep and the home side conceded another penalty on their 10m line. In front of the posts, this time Dan made no mistake (0-3).

There was then a period of tactical kicking which ended when Herbie was isolated near his try line after gaining some ground and following several rucks the ball came out on the Pirates side, leaving a large overlap and former Brickfield favourite Jack Andrew sprinted the 5m to score a try near the left post (5-3), converted by Craig Holland (7-3). From the restart Tom Bowen made a good mazy run, tried to chip the defence but the ball fell to a home player who kicked it safely to touch. From the line out another knock on lead to another scrum and despite the front rows apparently slipping Albion were penalised for collapsing whilst going forward. Bowen cleverly kept the kick in play and with good use of kicks to turn the defence Albion were able to advance up field. A high tackle on Luke Cowen-Dickie resulted in an Albion line out 15m out. Pirates counter mauling pushed the attempted catch and drive back resulting in a turnover as we did not use the ball. The dark arts of scrimmaging were leading to the referee “guessing” which team to penalise in the set piece and lots of resets. The rest of the half was ping pong kicks, rucks, half breaks, scrums with neither side gaining much advantage. Albion were however penalised on the Pirates try line following some good running rugby just before the half time whistle. The first half was tight, entertaining and dominated by the defences.

To try and maintain the crowd’s interest a strongman challenge which involved holding an empty beer barrel at arm’s length in front of the competitors drawn from the crowd. The second half started in a similar manner to the first half, penalties, line outs and scrums between the two 22s, when the foeman bares his steel defence becomes essential. On the first incursion into the home 22 an Albion player was taken out allegedly without the ball, when a felon’s not engaged in his employment, this however was unseen by the officials (I wonder what the video will show and if the club will take further action). But in the attack we knocked on and from the subsequent scrum and clearing kick the return kick was caught in play and run back beautifully to within 5m of the Albio try line, at this point deputy referee G. Cattlehad to be helped from the field as he had picked up an injury.

The next fifteen minutes or so was a series of scrums and 5m line outs, Pirates were put on hold, monsters could not breach the whitewash to the referee's liking despite two claims to the contary,but repeated penalties led to the enevitable sin binning of Lloyd Faibrother, when yet another scrum went down. Despite this setback the defence held before kicking clear, taking play into the home 22. There followed another period of ping pong leading up to some sustaind pressure by Albion which culminated with a knock on just shy of the try line. A bit more kicking for touch ensuedand unfortuneatly we were penalised at the death for collapsing the maul about 30m out central on the pitch, Angus Sinclar kicked the penalty (10-3) and the final whistle blew.

Oh, men of dark and dismal fate a bonus point our only reward for a typically attritional gamedominated by the forwards and defences. A few nice braeks and jinking runs all lead to nothing for both teams, the Pirates had the edge in the scrum and some of their mauling was textbook and therefore deservedly won. There will be a lot of "Now what is this and what is that" being asked by the team and fans alike, but there are positives that can be taken; the line out whilst not perfect functioned well - the jumpers looked like they were climbing over rocky mountain at times, the goal line defence was effective. I eagerly await the return fixture, now away with them, and place them at the bar.

And on a more personal note may I publically congratulate A Nomad's youngest daughter on the news of her engagement on Christmas day.

Match report Pirates .v. Albion

Discussion started by Unofficial Plymouth Albion (IP Logged), 31/12/2013 22:18

Unofficial Plymouth Albion
31/12/2013 22:18

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