James demolish Derwent in college rugby grudge match
Photo: George Lowther
JAMES 40 DERWENT 0
Sunday 22nd November
It was billed as a grudge match between two of the dominant teams in college rugby, but a gulf in class was shown when James thrashed Derwent at York R.I. Sports Ground this afternoon. In a first half of scintillating rugby, James put 33 points on their opponents and would have genuinely felt that they could have scored far more.
Although it was meant to be a clash between James’ fluid backs and Derwent’s strong forward play, the former were dominant in all areas. Their quality rugby, without doubt some of the best that is going to be seen at this level, was epitomised by their fourth try. Alex Muntus received the ball from a line-out and sent a perfectly timed pass to impressive centre Tom Prifti. The Derwent defence chased the attacker but were unable to even make contact before he found Ben Ivory to finish the move.
From the restart James were immediately on the attack again. It looked as if they would be through instantly but the ball was just held up on the line and they were awarded a five metre scrum. After two unsuccessful attempts, scrum-half Huw Harrow – who was later voted man of the match – took the ball himself and exploited a blatant gap in the Derwent defence to score James’ fifth try.
At this stage it looked as if James would put an enormous points total on their rivals but substitutions and improved play from Derwent meant they were only able to score one try in the second. Harrow broke through another gap and, after drawing out Derwent’s Dan Crehan, found Chris Smith who had an easy run to the line. Muntus, who successfully converted five out of James’ six tries, placed the kick accurately and put James 40 points ahead.
Muntus said afterwards that he was pleased with the team’s performance and that they had found a good “balance between playing loose and too loose”. He said that they had been a “little complacent” in the second but complimented the performances from the back row and centre partnership.
Derwent had their best opportunity to get points on the board in the second when they finally began to move into James’ half. Their best chance came near the end of the match when they pushed their opponents right back to the try line, only for the ball to be dropped in the last movement. They continued to press, but were unable to prevent constant turnovers from James.
Captain Joe Rankin conceded that they had come against a “superior team” with “excellent backs”. He said “we matched them up front and in the tackle, but they beat us on a lot of overlap.” Rankin was subject of a moment of hilarity after lashing out at team mate Dan Taylor – apparently mistaking him for a James player – after he tried to pull him off the ground.
Derwent’s defence did manage to keep their opponents out in the early stages but James pressurised heavily from the start. Derwent only managed to enter James’ half once, when Dan Taylor sprinted down the left wing but was halted by a crunching hit from Harrow. Both sides tackled hard and, after five minutes, Derwent’s Freddie Harris and James’ Rob Donell both had to leave the field with injuries. The latter went to hospital after the match with a suspected reoccurrence of a knee problem.
After fifteen minutes James scored their first try as the excellent Oliver Woodward managed to break through the defence with a stylish sidestepping run and find Giles Welford to take the ball over. From then on it was all James: they drove over from a lineout shortly after and then Mike Moloney scored to put the game beyond their opponents.
Meanwhile on the adjacent pitch Vanbrugh beat a combined Goodricke, Langwith and Wentworth (G.L.W) team 32-7. Two tries from Adam Fahie and one from Jack Eastwood sealed the victory.
James: Stuart Palmer, Michael Moloney, Thomas Rodliffe, Tom Pinney, Griff Chatwin, Bruce Green (c), Sam Burgum, Giles Welford, Huw Harrow, Alex Muntus, Rob Donell, Tom Prifti, Chris Smith, Oliver Woodward, Aaron Rolph
Subs: Dave Wilcock, Rob Hanley, Ed Tory, Tommy Savage, Adam Biggs, Ben Ivory, James Paul
Derwent: Dom Caunt, Alex Wilson, Freddie Harris, Burt Bailey, Rob Johnson, Conor Scanlan, Joe Rankin (c), Isaac Simon, Sean Glas, Henry Guest, Dan Taylor, Callum Douglas, Jon Gore, Alex Littlechild, Dan Crehan
Subs: Seb Cowell, Jack Trewin, Andy Watson, Chris Craddock
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