Posted by ???? on 19 November 2003 at 20:27:11:
In Reply to: Bletchley Match Report posted by James Turner on 19 November 2003 at 16:59:19:
: Anyone would think that it was a onsided affair the way that was written...
In all fairness I think sulians won the after match three cheers.
Thanks for the game. Good luck and hope to see you again...but not on the pitch.
: Old Sulians 0-85 Bletchley (Round 4 - Junior Vase)
: Last Saturday, Bletchley 1st XV travelled down to Bath to play Old Sullians in the third round of the Powergen Junior Vase competition. Bletchley set off early from Manor Fields by coach accompanied by a number of supporters to play an unknown side but encouraged by their form to date in the Bucks, Berks and Oxon league 1 where they stand as the leaders having won 6 out of 6 matches.
: Old Sullians play on a small pitch not far from Bath Race Course and on a clear, dry and sunny day, Bletchley were relishing the game ahead. Within the first minute, Old Sullians were stunned by an early score from the visitors when the ball was taken forward by No 8 Dan Subritsky who dummied a couple of players and passed to winger Paul Sherriff to score near the posts with captain and full back Sean McCluskey to convert for a 7 pts lead. In spite of this, the home side came back quickly and Bletchley then showed their defensive qualities by holding them off . Bletchley should have done better at this stage but their enthusiasm and confidence resulted in some loss of ball at the final point of good moves but the supporters were confident that Bletchley’s play augured well for the final score. The next try came from McCluskey, who had a superb game, not only scoring but converting his own score. Shortly afterwards Bletchley’s determination and strong game resulted in the referee’s decision to sin bin one of the Bletchley flankers for 10 minutes but this did not deter Bletchley and again they came back with another unconverted try by Sherriff. The game was being completely controlled by Bletchley now and it was clear that Bletchley were the fitter side (even one of the home side’s supporters admitted that Sullians were in dire trouble and that the visitors did not seem to have any "beer bellies"). The match was becoming one sided with centre Carl Miller scoring an unconverted try following a straight angled run through the middle and then scrum half Kevin Turnbull showing his usual burst of acceleration when a gap suddenly showed to grab a try with McCluskey converting to make the half time score 31pts to nil to Bletchley.
: The second half continued much as the same, with good runs through the middle, excellent handling and support and even when making mistakes, Bletchley recovering quickly to pressurise Sullians. Sherriff scored again after the break with McCluskey kicking the additional two points, then hooker Brett Staniford, who had come on following a neck injury to hooker Chris Coussell, got his name on the score sheet with scrum half Turnbull this time making the conversion. Shortly afterwards, following a scrummage close to the Bletchley try line which was won by Sullians, a huge tackle by Subritsky on the visitor’s no 8 caused him to spill the ball. Bletchley picked up and ran the ball back through a number of hands from their own try line for Sherriff to sprint over 60 metres to the Sullians’ line and score his fourth try of the match converted by McCluskey. At this stage, following a leg injury to flyhalf Matt Burton some changes were made in the Bletchley ranks with Jamie Parker going to flyhalf, Adam Griffiths taking inside centre position. The changes made no difference to Bletchley’s performance with prop Danny Sullivan scoring an unconverted try, followed by two more from scrum half Turnbull and lock Dave Coleman, both converted by McCluskey. The captain McCluskey then came off to give Tom Punter his debut in the 1st XV at full back position. Two further tries came from winger, Paul Evans and Brett Staniford with two conversions by Jamie Parker to make the final score 85 pts to nil to Bletchley. There were three men of the match on this occasion – flanker Dan Pruett, Danny Sullivan and Jamie Parker