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Match report for Sat 07th Nov 2009 @ 14:00, 1st XV

After travelling to Bracknell and losing the previous week, Penns expected a tough encounter against Tadley who had beaten Bracknell.

Summary

With some familiar faces available again after injury and un-availability a strong Penns side looked to get the season back on track against second placed Tadley. After travelling to Bracknell and losing the previous week, Penns expected a tough encounter against Tadley who had beaten Bracknell. With the notable omission of Mark Beel, out with a strained finger and bruised nail after his mid week heroics at the southern counties over 40’s tiddlywink tournament, Penns were apprehensive as to where the points would come from in a tight encounter with no established kicker. This proved to be a valuable waste of, what is already a scarce resource within the club, brain cells. Penns completely dominated from the first whistle to the last, a very physical and enterprising game of rugby, coming out worthy winners 32 – 10.

First Half

With Penns receiving the kick the pack ran the ball straight back at Tadley and with some early exchanges round the fringes Penns put into practice some of the mid week training. It wasn’t long before a quick break from Scott Gibbins in open play and good support running from Ollie Bareham, breaking his scoring duck, rewarded the early Penns efforts with a try converted by Mike Alsen, 7-0. Penns then camped out in the Tadley 22 and after some stern defence Jason Gumbs used his considerable bulk to smash over the line and score Penns second try. Moments later after the restart from good supporting play Jamie Moffat was his usual elusive self evading tackles and running through the opposition to score, 17-0.

Second Half

After some stern words at half time mainly in opposition to Toni Flore’s insistence on a ‘rugby tour’ to his new favourite destination, Brighton. Who would ‘win’ the clown of the match and have to drink a pint through the now infamous Tom Sutherland ‘crown jewel catcher’. Penns decided to treat the score board as 0-0 and focus on scoring without letting Tadley score. Clearly asking the squad to do two things at once confused matters as in the second half Penns let in two soft try’s. Not without getting on the scoreboard themselves, Adam Barley making a welcome return to the score sheet and one of the best try’s scored by Penns all season. With Mike Alsen making a strong break and drawing his man, popping to Toni (& Guy) Flore in support who sees the overlap and ships the ball to Ollie Bareham (man of the match) outside him who pops to Morris Ngaru, who makes a deceptively quick 30 meter dash for the line to score. Final score 32-10 to Penns.