King Reigns For Merton
As one Merton-Mansfield supporter noted: "It's not the Baa-Baa's, put it that way". Indeed it wasn't. This third division crunch match was a frustratingly error ridden affair, where promising phases were subsumed in a quagmire of knock-ons and poor decisions that would have made the keystone cops blush.
That said, the game did have a few saving graces. Both packs played hard competitive rugby and the battle up front dictated the ebb and flow of the game.
The first half saw Christ Church weather a sustained assault from Merton-Mansfield, all the more remarkable since a yellow card within ten minutes had reduced their numbers to 13.
But the home side failed to take any advantage of numerical superiority. The overlap was ignored in favour of a grinding route-one assault which Christ Church easily soaked up.
This was representative of the first half as a whole. Both sides were guilty of poor decision making, the fly-halves failed to boss the game, instead either taking ball back into the forwards and slowing the game, or running angles that dragged cover towards their wings and cost them ground.
Both sides made advantage of the cross wind, however, to ensure territory with clever kicking, and the lineout battle saw steals from both packs which kept the few spectators interested in on-pitch events.
Relief arrived just minutes before half time. An initial drive by the Merton-Mansfield pack released the ball for an effective break by inside centre Buttle, towards the Christ Church line, and a burrowing drive saw Scrum Half Seaman crash over the line to claim the Try. With fly half John Corcoran slotting the conversion, Merton-Mansfield entered the break seven points to the good.
The second half saw much more open play, and Christ Church Fly Half Lynagh played a much shrewder tactical game than he had done in the first half.
Some sublime support play by Christ Church, combined with Merton indiscipline saw them eventually overcome fine Merton defence with flanker Simon Gilchrist forcing his way for the try. Lynagh's conversion levelled the score and the game was suddenly up for grabs.
Christ Church survived well, even when Scrum Half Grupeos was sin-binned for over-zealous use of the boot.
The game became scrappy, the less coordinated forward play of both teams allowed for big gaps in the backs creating good centre breaks for both teams.
The fly-halves realised, late in the day, that they had half-decent back-lines outside them. Indeed were it not for the inability not to knock on after the third or fourth pass, the game could have been a lot more high-scoring than it ultimately was.
In the end it was more route one play that decided the outcome , when several phases of hard close-quarters battling saw Merton-Mansfield flanker Damien King thump over near the posts for the deciding try.
Corcoram's conversion stretched the lead to seven points again, and Christ Church's valiant efforts were ultimately in vain as they were edged out of the contest.
7th Feb 2002