Greens sleepwalking to the brink (From Craven Herald)

Greens sleepwalking to the brink

7:35pm Wednesday 22nd April 2009

• Print
• Email
• Share

Southend 33 Wharfedale 24

Wharfedale deserved little from this game, and in conceding a vital penalty in the very last minute of the match, got less.

While a young and energised Southend side are saying farewell to their brief two-year National sojourn with a flourish, Wharfedale are sleepwalking to the brink and could even yet stumble at the death.

The Greens’ failure to hang on to the vital bonus point in defeat piles pressure on them as they prepare for their final league match at home against Cinderford on Saturday.

They now hold a mere six-point lead over Westcombe Park, whose continuing rampaging Houdini act earned them a thumping victory over Launceston.

The arithmetic now means that a victory on Saturday for the Greens and/or a defeat for Park in their demanding fixture at Blackheath would see Wharfedale safe. Any sort of victory would in fact do for the Greens, barring an avalanche of points by Park in winning their remaining two games. Anything less and Wharfedale’s fate would no longer be in their own hands, with the outcome lingering nervously a week longer to Park’s final test at Cinderford.

It was an agonising finale for the Greens as the home side’s points-machine winger Andy Frost, having failed for the first time with his kicking moments earlier, landed the final -minute penalty to derive them of any reward and, in the process, take his personal tally to 28 points from the match.

But in truth most of the good things in this often loose and untidy see-sawing contest, which ended in three tries apiece, came from the home side.

They filled the field impressively throughout with a tightly-organised defence which left the Greens’ stuttering attack nowhere to go.

They attacked themselves with some fine running angles and an alert opportunism in capitalising on loose ball.

And, crucially as the match wore on, they gained increasing control of the contact area, where the contest was fierce and intense and the quality of play way above the general messy standard of the match as a whole.

Wharfedale, in contrast, were never as convincing and ultimately paid for a tentative and static opening half- hour’s play, where attacking pressure and half-chances were followed by crucial defensive slackness which allowed the home side somewhat soft tries at the other end of the field.

The early promise of a sixth-minute Mark Bedworth penalty, a heel against the head from a dominant scrum and some sustained mauling pressure near the line soon, however, evaporated as Frost begun his personal crusade by crossing and converting twice.

The first try was a beauty - easily the classiest moment of the match. Full-back Simon Hoult entered the line with a superbly-judged angled inside run, swerved back out and delivered a perfectly-timed pass to his winger.

Frost’s second try moments later was a far more mundane affair, pouncing on a squirted loose ball from the side of a Green scrum to sprint clear to the posts to establish a 14-3 lead.

Wharfedale retaliated when Peter Hall’s expertise at the side of a driving maul secured a try in the corner, converted excellently by Bedworth. But the oscillating formless pattern of play continued with Frost’s first penalty before the Greens seemingly stabilised things at 17-17 with a penalty try when winger David Hall was tripped in the corner in the act of pouncing on a delicate skillful chip over the home defence from scrum half James Doherty.

Thankfully a generous dead-ball area made the touch judge’s decision in Hall's favour a clear-cut one. But fortunes changed once more as winger Tyson Lewis exploited some loose midfield defence. His try was inevitably converted by Frost to secure a seven-point home lead at the break, leaving the outcome of a shapeless contest still a lottery.

Both sides tightened their game in the second period but it was Southend who did so to the greater effect. With the benefit of the sort of wind behind them that made it easier to protect a lead than create one, with it they sought to squeeze the game and wait for opportunities for Frost’s trusty boot.

He succeeded twice, stretching the home lead to a damaging 13 points, despite some more concerted Wharfedale attack featuring some strong running from the back by Adam Whaites. With both scrum-halves jointly sin-binned, the net gain surprisingly was with Wharfedale with the removal of Reece Reed’s influential tigerish pressure on the ball at the back of the Greens’ scrum and ruck.

But Wharfedale were continually running at a brick wall, arriving at promising positions under the home posts only to be denied at the breakdown by the fine low play of the Southend pack who secured several crucial turn-overs and equally crucially never conceded a penalty in doing so.

The Greens escaped their clutches only once as Andy Hodgson - the only Wharfedale back to show even a glimpse of penetration - darted through the middle to score near the posts for Bedworth to convert.

With six minutes remaining, Wharfedale had against all likely sense some tangible reward and even the remote prospect of admittedly unlikely escape.

But Southend were now in determined mood and played out time comfortably upfield for a richly-deserved win, managing in the process with Frost’s fourth penalty to deny the Greens even the helpful survival bonus point.

Maybe Wharfedale’s failure in four successive opportunities to secure the victory that would have ensured survival may just have had an unconscious tinge of false security about it - that sense of breathing space that there was always the second chance the following week.

There is no such second chance now as it could be all or nothing on Saturday at The Avenue - which might just concentrate the minds sufficiently to see things through.

SOUTHEND: S Hoult; A Frost, M Stanley, L Sloan, T Lewis; J Johnson, R Reed; M Williams, J George, L Irvine; A McLintock, C Green, T Kasten WHARFEDALE: A Whaites; L Gray, C Malherbe (J Gill 78), A Hodgson, D Hall; M Bedworth, L Doherty; C Steel, S Freer, P Hall (A Mason 74), D Lister, A Capstick; A Allen, S Solomi, R Baldwin REFEREE: Ed Turnill (RFU)

• Print
• Email
• Share