Storm 33: Army 28 (& Gryff breaks his curse)

Of course for newbies such as me who joined the Sarries family at Vicarage Road visits to Bramley Road have been quite rare over the last few years, though this was the second time this year following the Storm v Saints match to celebrate the new floodlights. The traffic was terrible and parking a bind but at least we knew where we were headed this time unlike our first visit where hastily printed directions off the website had sent us down some back streets through allotments in Barnet to Old Elizabethans which I have not been allowed to easily forget!

Decent crowd and we grabbed a burger and took our place in the stand.

The Army warming up seemed to have some big units and age on their side. Sarries were trialing their three new Fijians Samuela Bola at blindside flanker, Asaeli Boko at 8 and Rattys brother Iilesa Keresoni on the left wing who at various times was named baby Ratty and little Ratty from the Stand. The No 8 in particular looked a big unit.

The Army kicked off and an immediate knock on by Boko the No 8 showed true Sarries promise and the next 5 minutes the Storm did not leave their half with the Army missing one kick and finally kicking one penalty for a 0 – 3 lead. These 5 minutes had shown the dominant theme of the match with 2 scrums being incomplete and Storm being pinged.

From the restart Storm entered the Army’s half for the first time and the Army failed to gather the ball. From the resultant offside Terblanche equalized the score. It took to the fourth scrum re-set before one was completed and good drives by Mosese and Boko ended with a penalty a 5m lineout. Then as the attack started, shock of shocks, a missed drop goal by Sharp. You could have heard a pin drop in the stand! Not to be left out during their next attack the Army drove a drop goal wide!

A good break by Owen Farrell, who appeared captain for the night and was constantly in the ref’s ear, floundered with a knock on. With the rain falling the ball was becoming increasingly greasy. Storm won the ball back and a drive in the far corner resulted in a try for Ethienne Reynecke which was unconverted.

The Army broke back immediately and despite good cover, defence from Kersoni won and kicked a penalty to close the gap. A further penalty put the Army into a 8 – 9 lead at half time.

Changes to personal at half time saw Mosese and Alex Brown replaced by Luke Baldwin and James Ellershaw a very big if not athletic unit.  Scrums were still resulting in penalties or free kicks mainly but not always to the Army. Storm missed a penalty but a quick tap penalty resulted in Boko scoring an unconverted try 13 – 9 to Sarries.

A good flowing move and running lines shortly after mainly by the Army’s own Fijians resulted in a converted try and the Army reclaimed the lead. Scores were soon equalized by that rarity a successful drop goal by Sharp!

Both sides were attacking now and following a sweeping Storm attack the army skipper and open-side Mark Lee was yellow carded. Taking advantage of the extra man a Storm attack down the left and a good run by Little Ratty resulted in an unconverted try giving Storm the lead back 21 – 16. Daylight between the teams finally came after a well worked try by Henry Staff. Another conversion missed this time by Sharp joining the previous misses by Terblanche and Farrell.

More scrum fiasco and another well worked try for the Army wing pulled the score back to 26 – 21. Further Storm subs came on. A charge down by George Kruis who chased down the ball and scored under the post took the score with the resulting kick to 33 – 21.

Finally a series of scrums on the Storm line resulted in a yellow card for Alex Brown who had come back on to replace the injured Jared Saunders. With no more props on the bench this had the surreal effect that the Army’s scrum was undermined. They then went for a series of 5m line-outs and from a resultant drive a collapsed maul resulted in a penalty try the conversion being the last act of the night and a final score of 33 – 28.

Storm had won probably fortunately as the Army pack had been dominant but the sin binning of their captain had a major effect. Good displays by several in Storm side including Boko and Keresoni I didn’t notice Bola much but maybe he was effectively practicing the blind side art! Farrell made some decent breaks and was solid defensively and Kruis and Spencer had decent games in second row.

Another Storm Game on Monday this time back at OA’s and less confusion for me!

15 PD Terblanche
14 Jamie Hearn
13 Henry Staff
12 Owen Farrell
11 Iliesa Keresoni
10 Jake Sharp
9 Moses Rauluni
1 Jared Saunders
2 Ethienne Reynecke
3 Alex Brown
4 George Kruis
5 Hayden Smith
6 Samuela Bola
7 Will Fraser
8 Asaeli Boko

Replacements: Harry Allen, James Ellershaw, Nick Auterac, Tom Jubb, Jamie Bache, Luke Baldwin