No Stroll in the (Sedgley) Park

hat trick hero
By Senor Juan
January 17 2005

In September we visited Sedgley Park’s excellent ground and came away with a comfortable win, we looked anxious going for the bonus point try and Sedgely looked like a good ND1 side. A good win over Rotherham and a controversial, narrow loss to Plymouth recently certainly add to that impression.

Back in September we visited Sedgley Park’s excellent ground and came away with a comfortable-looking 20 – 43 win. I thought at the time that we looked anxious when going for the bonus point try and that Sedgely looked like a good ND1 side. Their recent results certainly look that way, with a good win over Rotherham and a controversial, narrow loss to Plymouth. With Bristol now near the top of the league and challenging for promotion would Sedgely be able to cement their place in the division and would Bristol have one eye on the upcoming fixture with Gloucester?

The conditions were similar to those for the away fixture, bright and dry, but with a strong, gusting wind swirling around the ground. The kick-off was poorly taken by Bristol with a knock-on, but both sides looked willing to play running rugby, and the returning Jason Hobson was soon able to show his pace. Bristol were recycling the ball well and on 7 minutes Sedgely Park were penalised for not rolling away at a ruck but Jason Strange was well wide with his kick.

From the restart Sean Marsden made a good break, but Sedgley Park defended well and Bristol were failing to hang onto the ball when in contact. The resulting scrums were pretty messy, but Bristol looked the stronger, although the binding of both Chris Morgan and his opposite number looked a bit suspect!

A quickly taken penalty from Park led to a line-out that Bristol defended poorly and was followed by a ruck out wide at which they were penalised. The fly-half, Feeney, made the difficult chance look easy and it was the first score, on 12 minutes, to Sedgely Park.

Bristol tried to get straight back into the game and there was some good play in midfield from Joe El Abd and the ball was shipped on to Luke Nabaro who made an excellent run down the wing to get the ball over the line despite several defenders clinging to him. Unfortunately, the referee disallowed the try for the mythical offence of a double move. I was closer than the referee or touch judge and although Luke was tackled just short of the line, he immediately reached over the line and put the ball down. I think it was a good try, but sadly it wasn’t down to me.

However, Bristol seemed determined to come away with something and won the subsequent line-out, followed by a surging attack across the field and Sedgely Park conceded a penalty which Strange kicked to the right corner. Bristol again won the line out and Sam Cox went over near the posts and a try looked to have been scored, but the referee called play back to award Bristol a penalty. I couldn’t see why the try was not given, but I suppose the referee was a bit nearer than me!

From the tapped penalty the Sedgely winger, Richard Welding, made a great intercept and sped off back down field straight towards the Bristol posts. Fast as he was, however, Marko Stanojevic (closely followed by Sean Marsden) made up a tremendous amount of ground to haul Welding down just short of the line. From my angle he did not look to have been held, but the referee thought otherwise and awarded a penalty to Bristol enabling them to clear the danger. A close escape though.

From a turnover at the start of the second quarter Sam Cox made a good run into the midfield and was well supported by Hobson who passed the ball on to trainee chiropractor Jim Brownrigg who was able to use his spinal mobility to score by the posts with Strange duly converting for Bristol to lead 7 – 3.

From the restart Bristol were awarded a penalty but were unable to make good ground from the consequent line-out and Sedgely Park were defending well with Bristol continuing to make errors when going into contact. When Sedgely attacked from the scrums Bristol had to back pedal, conceded possession and penalties. The Sedgley fly half Feeney was successful with another fine kick after 27 minutes to narrow the gap to 7 – 6.

Some good attacking play from Bristol was spoiled once again by some handling errors and poor ball retention, but a sweeping move from a line out allowed Marko Stanojevic to race into the opposition 22, the ball was moved wide to Luke Nabaro who went over in the corner. Once again Luke was to be disappointed with the referee ruling that there had been a forward pass. I didn’t see it that way myself and can only assume that the pass behind the back to Luke looked forward but again the referee and touch judge were not well placed. It wasn’t as clear as Luke’s first effort, but I’d have given it! Bristol did get a penalty, though, which gave a 10 - 6 lead after 33 minutes.

Bristol were soon on the attack again with Sean Marsden finishing a good move out wide in the corner. Jason Strange kicked superbly to convert to move the score to 17- 6 just before half time.

From the restart Bristol were awarded a penalty but the touch judge had seen something and the referee sinbinned Ed Pearce apparently for use of the elbow or some such. Feeney was again accurate with his kick to leave the score at 17 – 9.

Sedgely Park were well in the game at half time and anything Richard Hill said to his team during the interval was promptly ignored as Bristol contrived possibly the worst start to a second half this season. A knock on from the kick off, some sideways running from Marsden followed by a deeply unsympathetic pass to Marko, who swiftly knocked the ball on. Sedgely Park were encouraged and attacked into the Bristol 22, only to be dubiously called back for crossing. Sedgely were still pressing and Saul Nelson was yellow carded for obstructing Feeney as he kicked a good grubber towards the corner. Bristol were now down to 13 men and unsurprisingly Sedgley Park opted for the scrum. More surprising, for Sedgely Park, was the way the 6 man Bristol pack held them up and were awarded a penalty to clear the immediate danger. Some helpful comments to the referee were not well received and Sedgely found themselves a further ten metres back.

Bristol mauled their way up field despite their reduced numbers, with Joe El Abd and Jim Brownrigg prominent and the ball went out wide to Luke who was forced into touch close to the line after a strong run. It just wasn’t his day to score! The referee was playing advantage for an earlier offside though, and Strange was able to add to his tally, 20 – 9 after 50 minutes.

After a period of scrappy play Marko made a good break and was given excellent support by Sam Cox who made good ground and laid on a fine pass for Jim Brownrigg to score under the posts. Jason Strange converted to give a lead of 27-9 after 59 minutes.

Only three minutes later Sean Marsden brought up the bonus point try after Sedgely Park knocked on and Sean made a great run from the Bristol 10 metre line to outpace the defence for a fine try well converted by Strange. Bristol now lead 34 – 9.
A number of Bristol replacements came on and the extra fitness and strength in depth of the fully professional side came to the fore. Initially, however, the replacements seemed to unsettle the side and there was another period of sloppy play, but another good break from Luke Nabaro lead to a sinbinning for, I think, the Sedgely Park captain Ponton. Bristol were soon able to take advantage on 67 minutes as Ed Pearce was able storm over like a large moving house through some understandably weak tackling. Mark Woodrow, who was just on, converted to make it 41 – 9.

Some good work from Joe El Abd, demonstrating his soccer skills, led to a 5 metre scrum and Woodrow was able to make use of his height to squeeze through the smallest of gaps in a now demoralised defence to score. His conversion made it 48 -9 after 74 minutes.

Almost immediately Bristol struck again with a great score superbly finished by Marko Stanojevic out wide after some excellent passing from half the team. The conversion made it 55 – 9. There was still time for Sean Marsden to lance into the opposition 22 from inside the Bristol half before passing to Jim Brownrigg to score his hat trick under the posts. Woodrow made the simple conversion to leave the final score at 62 – 9.

The score is not a fair reflection on Sedgley Park who could easily have lead in the first half and look easily as good as some of the other sides we have played this season, but the greater fitness and cohesiveness of Bristol was decisive in the final quarter of the game. There are some hard games in the league coming up for Bristol, plus the Powergen Cup game at Gloucester who will be smarting after their loss in the Heineken Cup, and Bristol will need to cut out the sloppy errors and reduce the penalty count if they are to succeed. Sedgley Park will surely avoid relegation after their first season in ND1. Will they be playing us next season?