Holt III 26 - Broadland Tigers 7

The Tigers travelled to north Norfolk to face Holt 3^rd team in a friendly fixture. In a predominately lightweight and youthful team it was always going to be a struggle up front, and this was the case with the front five under enormous pressure from the first scrum, with Hewitt playing in the front row for the first time and Wayne Gibbs returning at tight head prop after a 4 year absence from the game.

The Holt forward pack dominated the tight play throughout the first half and as a result had almost all of the possession, but despite this the magnificent trio of Towfighi, Buckley and Dixon smashed back the opposition in a superb display of back row play. All three took it in turns to tackle, rip and turnover ball, much to the frustration of the home team. Broadland used the meagre possession to good effect, with excellent runs from Howlett in midfield, who made several strong runs and setup a good platform for his forwards. Scrum half Clarke put in a couple of very useful kicks to the corner which with the aid of B Collings blistering pace helped peg the home side in their own 22.

Broadland soaked up wave after wave of attack, but eventually succumbed to this pressure with a try by the home side as the first half whistle approached, however from the kick off and resulting breakdown Broadland’s Man of the Match Buckley playing on the flank showed his wing credentials running the ball in from half way, leaving a procession of would be tacklers in his wake and scoring under the posts, converted by Tucker.

At half time the game was still in the balance, despite the visitor’s lack of possession and field position. Soon after the break Gibbs taking a knock to the ribs had to leave the field, meaning that an already under pressure pack was a man down. The home side made good use of the one man advantage, scoring an unanswered 19 points in the second half.

However Holt did not have things entirely their own way, with Fogg returning to the side after a few weeks absence making a number of his trademark incursions into opposition space, popping the ball out of the tackle to great effect.

The Holt side despite being physically much bigger and stronger up front, left the field knowing they had been in a game, with several of them nursing bumps bruises after being rocked back by some hard hitting tackles, in particular from Dixon and Buckley who were outstanding throughout the game.

As the end of the game approached, Broadland were still putting in big tackles all over the field tackles and should be proud of their spirited defiant performance.

The Tigers next game is a merit table fixture against Thetford II venue/meet time tbc.

Team: Moore, Hewitt, Gibbs, Fogg, Smart, Buckley, Dixon, Towfighi, Clarke, Tucker, Bloom, Sewel, Howlett, B. Collings, Payne