Effingham

Cobham Under 17A vs Effingham

January 24^th 2010

Effingham 9 pts        Cobham 22 pts

Some wonderful photos taken by an Effingham Dad are here. All copyright to Effingham Rugby of course...

The first game of the New Year saw a mixed bag of a performance from the Cobham side against a well drilled and competitive Effingham team. Cobham won by 4 tries and a conversion to 3 penalties.

Cobham took time to settle into the game. Dropped passes, missed touch kicks and penalties given away for silly offences (offside at scrum) did not help, and from one of the penalties Effingham took the lead. In patches Cobham played some bright rugby with the forwards generally on top and the backs able to move the ball well with Harty a constant threat. From a quick tap, Koep created space for Hughes to score in the corner.

Cobham continued to play a mixed game and gave away a couple of penalties in kicking range that took Effingham into the lead, but a strong line-out drive saw Koep restore the lead to Cobham before half-time.  We then unfortunately lost Philip to the bin for the period over the half time break—he came back and won 3 scrums against the head and was immaculate with his throwing—and during this time we created space for Hughes again to score.

The second half generally saw Cobham control the ball and the game, a couple of chances went astray but a solid scrum and drive put Koep over for his second try of the game and the bonus point.

This was a tough game but the leaders in the side really stood out and kept things working. The defence was strong and Effingham were not able to get into our 22 at any stage. In attack the forwards maintained a good platform and won lots of ball and once we had continuity the lads showed good skills and could have had another couple of tries with different options being taken, communication being the key. 

NM