Drybrook Rugby Club

Drybrook 13pts
Newent 17pts

On a beautiful sunny afternoon with a crowd of around three hundred, fifty minutes on the clock and Drybrook thirteen points to nil up and dominating territory and possession, you might have thought what could possibly go wrong? However cast your mind back to the Cup Final last April and a horrible sense of déjà vu suddenly begins to unfold.

Let’s go back to the start. At three o-clock Drybrook kicked off to a large cheer from the Manning’s Road faithful and were soon on the attack. A good kick ahead from Ben Large, the Drybrook captain, was followed up well by the defensive line, and the Newent players found themselves with nowhere to go as the Drybrook tackles came in hard and fast. A move out to the left looked certain to bring dividends, but a dropped pass, and a kick through from the Newent centre brought play back to the home team’s ten metre line and provided the visitors a moment of respite.

A good take in the lineout by Mr. Consistency, Will Greenwood, led to a strong drive from the home pack, and when the ball was released to the backs, a good line break by Large, resulted in an illegal infringement in the tackle, which allowed Tom Treherne to open the scoring for Drybrook with a well struck penalty, on sixteen minutes.

The game then developed into a pattern of attack by Drybrook, repelled by good defence from Newent, who when they had the ball, always looked dangerous on the break.

At this stage Drybrook upped their intensity and after more good work at the lineout, and a series of good carries from the loose forwards, the Newent captain and number eight George Webb, again infringed at the breakdown, and after arguing his case was taken back a further ten metres, to make the resulting three point penalty from Treherne a much simpler task.

With ten minutes left of the half Drybrook again set up good field position just outside the opposition’s five metre line, after a clever kick through from Tim Stevenson, who was enjoying a fine game at outside half.

What happened next could well have had a big outcome on the game. The Newent lineout was again put under pressure, a quickly thrown pass to the fullback, was met with the full impact of the Drybrook backrow, who took the player back over his own line, where he dropped the ball for the Drybrook players to dive on. The referee blew his whistle and pointed skywards, in what three hundred plus people on the line,

and the thirty players on the pitch, thought was the rewarding of a good try for the home team.

In a cruel twist of fate for Drybrook however, the refs arm slowly began to turn and point in the other direction, as he deemed the Newent fullback had been illegally lifted in the tackle.  The resulting penalty was skewed into touch on the Newent twenty two, much to their surprise and relief.

This setback spurred the men in green onwards and from a scrum on the opposition’s ten metre line, the Drybrook pack drove their counterparts backwards off their own ball to set up Treherne to add to the tally with another penalty. This time unfortunately, his kick drifted just wide of the left hand upright and the score remained at six points to nil in favour of Drybrook, though in all honesty this was scant reward for their first half superiority.

The second half started with a kick down the middle of the park from Newent which was taken by Glen Nott, who set off on a storming run before off- loading to his support and what followed was a fine passage of inter-passing that led to a fine try by Danny Price, converted by Treherne. Thirteen points to nil and all is well in Drybrook, but wait, is that a black cloud approaching from the West.

From the restart the tide began to turn and a good passage of Newent forward play led to quick ball for the backs and Mansfield was put through for a try between the posts converted by Brooks, and suddenly Newent were back in the running.

Surely history couldn’t repeat itself could it? Apparently, yes it could, as from the Drybrook restart the ball was fielded by the Newent forwards who released their backs towards the blindside this time Gardner crossed the whitewash, and although the conversion was missed Newent were just one point adrift and with twenty minutes left in the game, all the signs were looking rather ominous, and the mood on the touchline had changed from jovial camaraderie to tense disillusionment.

The control Drybrook had on the game was now all but gone and they were left hanging on to a one point lead in a game which should have been safely in the bag.

Drybrook began to make changes in an attempt to change the course of proceedings and the introduction of Mitch Renton on sixty eight minutes gave the home fans the false hope that they may be able to hold on for the win.

Within two minutes of coming on to the field Renton was yellow carded for an act of retaliation and his push to the face of an opposing player resulted in Drybrook having to see out the final ten minutes with only fourteen players and with injuries to Danny Price, Mitch Bourne and influential centre Danny McNamara forcing them to leave the field, the conclusion to Drybrooks nightmare final twenty minutes seemed inevitable.

Sure enough with two minutes left on the clock a miss directed clearance kick from Stevenson was picked up by the Newent winger Brett Gardner who brought play to within ten metres of the Drybrook line, the Newent forwards picked and drove, and after a series of attempts on the line, met by solid Drybrook defence, the referee decided that one of the Drybrook players had strayed offside and awarded a penalty in front of the Drybrook posts to produce the opportunity for Newent to take the game with a simple penalty. As the Drybrook players trudged towards their own line the Newent scrum half surprised everyone by taking a quick tap and sent the ball spinning across the line. Much to the relief of the travelling supporters Gardner was able to sneak in at the corner and place the final nail in Drybrooks coffin. There was time for the restart but even though they managed to win possession the ball was knocked on and the referee ended the game with everyone from Drybrook in a state of disbelief.

The truth of the matter was that although thing’s had gone against them, the disallowed try, the yellow card awarded to Renton, despite the fact that Newent had given away numerous penalties in the first half, three of which resulted in an extra ten yards being awarded due to dissent, with no hint of a card insight. The late injuries to key players, the blame for losing this game can be put down to complacency. After their try early in the second half, Drybrook thought the game was won. Newent to their credit came back strongly and took the points.

The disappointment of the loss somewhat overshadowed the positives of Drybrooks game. Their set piece was dominant throughout, and for sixty minutes they were the better side. They will definitely look back on this game as the one that got away.

Drybrook: T.Treherne, M.Baldwin, D.McNamara, B.Large, H.Howard, T.Stevenson, B.George, M.Hale, A.Howells, L.Boon, W.Greenway, G.Nott, D.Price, S.Peaper, M.Bourne
Replacements M.Renton, R.Gardner, C.Guest.