Teddies claw back title
Peterʼs brought down to earth by the tigerish tackling of the Teddy Hall pack
Rugby Premier Division
St Peter’s.....................8
St Edmund Hall........15
The final whistle on Tuesday could come not a minute too soon for St Edmund Hall, with Peter’s barely inches off their try line. Yet Teddy Hall still overcame all the odds, and arguably the better side, to clinch a 15-8 win over Peter’s and with it seize the league title from beneath the noses of their hosts. Peter’s were on a 14 league game winning streak with two titles to show for it, and began with all the possession to be expected of that pedigree.
Only the last minute loss to Hall in last year’s Cuppers final counted against a perfect record, and the victors that day at first seemed lost for answers to Peter’s furious rugby, inspired by the surging charges of man of the match Bertie Payne. They did keep the hosts at bay, but only at the expense of some costly fouls that concluded in Peter’s fly half Rob Unwin converting on fifteen minutes to register an early advantage.
So much of the play had been stationed within the Hall 22 that when play finally did break into the other half of the pitch, Peter’s seemed caught entirely off-guard. First Joe Cooper stole the ball from a scrambled pass, though his delivery out to Rob Yates was denied a try by opposite number Unwin’s miraculous saving tackle. Yet within moments Hall threatened again to add some bite to their bark.
This time Ben Chamberlain dived on the ball to steal it from Peter’s and a fluid demonstration of passing found winger Dave Saleh, who sliced through the defence to touch down at the corner flag. As the wind rattled Yates missed his kick, the usually insatiable stand off seeming stifled by the conditions as throughout this first period, with his usual plethora of tricks struggling to come off.
However, the resumption of play after the break saw the wind in Hall’s favour, and in moments Yates had delivered a placed kick down field that was nearly picked up by Will Stevens with his first touch, though the newly introduced substitute was unable to capitalise. As the clock ticked on a lack of scoring forced Peter’s into a change of game plan for the first time this season.
The introduction of scrum-half Alan Eddington upped the tempo and though his quick penalty and storming run was let down by a lack of support, Unwin’s minutes later found Hall asleep as Ed Botcherby hurtled over the line. Like the score in the first half, it had come against the run of play, and as before the number 10 missed the conversion.
Under fresh pressure, Hall’s discipline was collapsing and fullback Charlie Allen was lucky to escape without a card for a late bone-shuddering tackle that he refused to pull out from. The visitors, like Peter’s earlier on, were on top of the game but trailing, and were not helped by the heroics of centre Bertrand Perrodo as he emerged from a melee on his own try-line with the ball somehow in has hands and not in those of Hall scrumhalf Andy Godfrey.
It took a moment of luck to finally undo Peter’s, but it was a moment that they proved thoroughly unprepared for. Unwin attempted the ambitious, and his failed chip ended up in the arms of Freddy Lait via a fortunate bounce off the ground. The veteran forward, toddled between the posts to the sound of rapturous applause and deafening screaming, sounds that only intensified as Yates finally found his kicking form to extend Hall narrow lead.
Moments later he added a further blow from his boot to bring the score to 15-8. Only then did the fallen champions respond, though it was all too late as the referee finally called time with Peter’s in front of their opponent’s posts. Hall’s triumphant captain Rob Newman boasted after the match of the team’s “flexibility from number one to fifteen and the experience in all positions that helps us keep scoring”.
His side are indeed worthy champions, not least because they have met with adversity earlier in the term and responded emphatically. It remains to be seen whether or not Peter’s can do the same in Hiliary.
10th Nov 2005