Wattstown 16 Sports 10

In a close fought game at the Memorial Park, The Sports will look back on the early missed opportunities that cost them dearly by the end of the match. In the first 10 minutes tries went ‘a begging’ after overlaps were created and there was an unusual lack of composure for the place kicking of Matthew Murphy who would normally have slotted a few converted penalties. In fact the first half developed into a ping pong kicking game in an effort to secure territory for the kickers to make their mark on the game.

It was Nathan Burford for the home side who came out on top with a well taken penalty and a drop goal making the half time score 6-0.From the restart the Sports were judged to be offside in the threes as they looked to keep the homeside pinned back in attack and Burford put Wattstown further ahead 9-0 after minutes.This would be their only score until the final minutes of the game.

The second half really belonged to the Sports as they racked up 10 points to take the lead. Firstly after a good scrum and driving ruck at the home team then when strong defence charged down a hurried Wattstown clearance, it was scrum half Chris Morgan who was quickest to the loose ball to touch down. Murphy kicked a good conversion in adding the points. With the Sports continuing their pressure now they forced another error from the home side and Murphy again made no mistake.

Now with 10 minutes left the Sports were playing well and had overcome their early hesitancy but Wattstown made one last thrust at the Sports and when Dean Griffiths was yellow carded for the Sports it was a difficult few minutes with the home side camped on the Sports line. With only 7 forwards the gallant efforts of the Sports were thwarted when openside wing forward Chris Evans crawled over for the winning try that Burford converted. The consolation for the Sports was a losing bonus point which they deserved. Final score 16-10.