door Byron van Gool
With the rain pouring all morning, the first team headed out to Dwingeloo already expecting a muddy and scrappy game. To nobody surprise the field was waterlogged and muddy, but this didn’t stop the enthusiasm of the team.
After a focused warm up, the match started and so did the snow. Battling against the elements, the boys from ERC fronted up against the bigger Dwingeloo and spent the majority of the half defending their try line. A lot of heroic defence denied Dwingeloo two tries and caused a lot of tension amongst the teams. As the tempers were rising, the conditions were worsening, and as the half time whistle blow, both team retreated to the warmth of the changing rooms with the score 0-0.
Fueled by the defensive performance of the first half, ERC emerged from the changing room ready and hungry to win this match, but it was Dwingeloo who struck first with a maul of 13 players to make the score 5-0. ERC replied immediately with a silky run from Sam, who went under the posts and scored our first try (5-7). At this moment both teams knew that, the team that wanted the victory more would win the match.
The forwards constantly put Dwingeloo under pressure through their dominance in the scrum, giving the backs the freedom to run at the spaces and make headway. From the pressure, Dwingeloo gave away a penalty, which Sam converted to make the score 5-10.
After some back and forth Dwingeloo would resort back to their strength, the maul. After a line-out on the 22 meter line, They would go through numerous mauls before sneaking in on the blind side to make the score 10-10. This however lit a fire in the boys. Some great hands from the backs resulted in Frank finding space on the outside and using his speed to go over in the corner (10-15).
The forward dominance continued in the scrum, which lead to phases in Dwingeloo’s 22m, were the forwards used Dwingeloo’s own weapon against them and went over through a maul finished off by Guus, making the score 10-22.
After 80 long and cold minutes, the ball was kicked off the pitch. The team ecstatic about the victory and were happy to get into the changing room to enjoy a hot shower!
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