Shoguns have to work for victory over Combination

2 tries
By Duncan Wood
December 10 2002

It was a very keenly contested affair at Clifton last night and the Combination XV gave a good account of themselves. However, there were a few Shoguns with a point to prove and they made it with a 31-8 win.

It was a night for the die hards up at Clifton last night (I've never seen such a motley collection of woolly hats!) although there was plenty of support for both sides.

The Combination XV threw themselves into the game and were certainly not overawed by their more illustrious opponents. Bristol camped deep in the Combination XV 22 for quite some time before engineering a half gap for Duncan Hayward which he skilfully exploited.

Matt Carrington was mixing spreading the ball wide with some intelligent kicking and it was only committed defence, combined with a ref who seemed to want to level things up by penalising Bristol frequently, that kept the score down.

However, Hayward soon added another score and then Jamie Williams finished off the score of the night when Ross Beattie ran the ball back from deep and simply blew several defenders away before recycling the ball. Jamie ghosted into the line and his pace and lines of running were too much.

James Bailey added another score before the half to make it 26-3 at half time. The Combination boys had competed really well considering their lack of time together and they were perhaps a little unlucky not to have a few more points on the board but the Shoguns were taking this seriously.

The second half became a more scrappy affair as both sides used seveal substitutes. Chris Morgan was driven over by the rest of the pack for Bristol's final score but the Combination team had the final word with a late try of their own as it finished 31-8.

Julian White and Andrew Sheridan both played the full 80 in the front row. Ben Sturnham played the whole game and Ross Beattie looked really impressive in the hour or so that he played.

On a more negative note, Martin Shaw only lasted a few minutes before limping off with an ankle injury.

It was a good workout for the returning first teamers and the Combination team can hold their heads up high because they were far from disgraced.