Sat 11 Nov 2023
Polson hosted an absolute thriller of a game, at the weekend, with pace-setters Chew Valley taking on fourth placed CABs. Last week's postponement enabled a few teams to capitalise on the CABs inactivity; but it was clear from the league table that it was a match between the league's tightest defence against the league's highest scorers and the strong Polson crowd were able to see this in evidence from minute one.
Chew started off like a steam train, keeping the ball and really stretching the CABs defence. Their focus was getting into the 13 channel (between winger and outside centre) and making inroads there before pulling the play wide the other way and within a few minutes they succeeded in the scoreboard corner to take an early 0-5 lead. The CABs were struggling for possession (some unsuccessful lineouts and stray passes) enabling Chew to maintain their threats and causing the CABs to hang in their by their fingertips. But, as the half reached the mid-point it was still 0-5 and the CABs were now keeping possession and causing Chew to start infringing (in what turned out to be an Achilles heel for them) and Dan Pearce was able to close the score with a penalty (3-5).
It was also becoming apparent that the Chew forwards were starting to struggle maintaining their early pace and defending their 10 channel, especially off lineout. This gave Brandon Rowley and Lloyd Duke opportunities to make serious inroads behind the Chew defence and on 30 minutes one such move gave the platform for the CABs one try of the match. Rowley barrelled through the 10 to make good ground, the ball was fed to Daniel Goldsmith for another strong carry and pull in the Chew defence more; the ball was then shipped out to Glenn Coles who delivered a perfect pass for James tucker to drift onto it and around the Chew 13. It was now a case of Pearce and Tucker interchanging and picking off the defenders from 60m out, which they did to perfection (5-10). The CABs were now in full flow and another penalty gave Pearce the chance to stretch the lead to 13-5. Chew were not done and a well-worked move off lineout gave the Chew full back the score to put them back in the lead. However, two late penalties )and a yellow card for deliberate knock-on) gave the CABs a 16-12 lead at half-time.
The focus at half-time was to continue executing the game plan of keeping the ball for multiple phases (not really needing to off-load), use the boot to either kick to compete, or get it off the park and use the lineout advantage that the CABs had started to establish with Tom Bottoms, Lloyd Duke, Goldsmith and Bertie Horne finding the right places to win the ball (allied to putting heat on the Chew lineout). The CABs also knew that Chew would start off strong again, as their forwards had had a breather, and they could re-organise being a man down, so the focus was ensuring that defence was spaced out and not narrow around the breakdown and alert to breaks down the blindside. Chew re-started down the slope and both teams set about trying to establish their preferred playing style. Early play was camped down, in the CABs 40m with solid defence only enabling the CABs to clear with the boot and not really get behind the Chew defence. However, the defence of the CABs was settling into their organisation and structure with captain, Tom Sandercock and debutant, Todd Croft leading the way and Chew's attacks were now becoming a touch less organised and easier to deal with. Set piece ball was also not as clean as the CABs and so the CABs were now the ones starting to dictate play. More points off the tee from Pearce meant that the CABs were able to stretch their lead to 28-12 with 12 minutes to go and the game was looking comfortable. However, a yellow card for Rowley, brought Chew back into it and two uncoverted tries meant the last couple of minutes were going to be a nailbiter. The CABs were able to force play into the Chew half and they set about holding Chew out. Frantic attack and committed defence was now at it in full throttle; a counter-ruck gave the CABs the ball and to sum up the game, another infringement saw Pearce take advantage and deny Chew a losing bonus point and finish the game with a 31-22 victory.
So, two really good teams giving it their all and demonstrating their strengths in abundance. For the CABs it was an impressive back to back performance and keeping in contact with the top league placed teams. Next weekend sees the start of two really tricky away games; with free-scoring Devonport Services up first.
