Rise from the ashes like a pheonix

Written by Slough

Rise from the ashes like a pheonix

Another Saturday has come to greet the team and this week the players are to travel to Barnes. Of course, as per Sidcup tradition, a large portion of the players are delayed whether it be because of traffic or players simply being too heavy for certain cars to carry. Luckily, the new innovative Waze app helped to cut these delays in half and showed the players the scenic side of south west London.

The team’s warm up was positive; the players managed to live and learn from their poor performance the week before and focus on rising from the ashes a majestic phoenix with one aim of regaining lost honour. This week brought about a new face in the shape of Connor Cooper who had usurped DT from his back row spot and subsequently banished him to the wing.

It would seem that for the first moments of the game, Sidcup were to take the helm and defend a barrage of consistent runners from the Barnes’ attack. When Sidcup had the ball in hand they threatened their opponents however the eventual outcome of the initial trading was a penalty within range of Sidcup’s star orchestrator Josh Twyford. What followed was a passage of play involving some scrums and a few penalties which eventually landed Barnes in Sidcup’s half with an attacking lineout. The try was scored after some effective recycling of the ball and it was then converted. 7-3.

After deploying a beautifully waited ball from the restart which Barnes dealt with well an eventual penalty was conceded by the home side which Josh Twyford capitalised on post-haste. 7-6.

It would seem that Sidcup and Barnes were to remain locked in an immovable arm wrestle of kinds (Sidcup’s lineouts performing well to slow their momentum at the set piece and some consistent and strong defence in the backs) until an interception lent itself to frustrating try being scored by the homes side in the corner and the points being added by their teen heart-throb fly half.14-3.

The fly half for Barnes seemed to play the field well and kept Sidcup in the wrong half of the pitch. There was some trading of plays and continuity from both sides which ultimately resulted in visiting Sidcup conceding another frustrating penalty. 17-6.

It was in the second half that Sidcup would remain ever optimistic with their Viking defence they had shown so far and the knowledge that there was still another couple of gears to go. An unfortunately positioned tackle for team talisman Joe Thomas meant he would be side lined for the rest of the game and Sidcup’s secret weapon Connor Cooper would take the field to cause devastation at the break down. A promising break was made by hooker Charlie Hopkins with second row Luke Coughlan on his outside; both players knew that Coughlan had the pace to finish the try however the ball was fumbled during in a monstrous tackle and their attack thwarted.

All remained in dynamic equilibrium until the last 10 minutes where fate unfortunately came knocking where Barnes’ 8 trundled over the line to score a try which was converted. 24-6. Sidcup were disappointed with try but were determined to make sure the score line didn’t slander their efforts in this game.

Sidcup’s restart was blown back so it wouldn’t reach the 10 metres the scrum was awarded to Barnes which they capitalised on from half way and executed a move straight from the training field to score a final try.

Although the score line tells a different story Sidcups performance was full hearty and were very unfortunate to come away with only 6 points, the players were not to be too disheartened by this defeat. The boys aimed to improve on their previous week’s performance and did so. The team unfortunately tasted defeat against Barnes and no doubt they will taste the bitterness again this season at some point. Sidcup relish these opportunities to learn however and enjoy being shaped by them. Really and truly though, rugby was the real winner.

Written by Slough