Reports 12
Spartans Bowl Winners at Southend
20 Oct 2011
Oaks Spartans take the Bowl after finishing in style despite a bad start
Not a bad result at Southend, usual dodgy start by the Oaks with a drubbing by Brentwood and Westcliffe to kick things off. !st half with Brentford the team where very slow to react to a well discipline d side with some skill and powerful backs. In the second half when we started to bring up the defensive line promptly we made a better account for ourselves. Our attacking play suffered from a lack of depth which failed to penetrate the Brentwood defence. Westcliffe was a very different game with the team bullied off the ball in rucks and mauls which we seemed to get sucked into with alarming regularity. This second game coming straight after the Brentwood game exhausted the team by the end of play.
However, we finished the day with some flowing rugby with some imaginative play to see off Colchester and Braintree convincingly, winning the Bowl Trophy. After a rest of a couple of games the Spartans, revitalised, where a completely different team winning more of the ball and finally making the space to attack into with several try's scored with both team and individual efforts. ( and one audacious effort... worth of a fine me thinks). This late flourish put us in the final for the Bowl where it was a repeat performance for the Spartans who where playing with complete confidence camping in the Braintree half for most of the game.
Not too bad a day at the office in the end. with some of our new recruits cutting their teeth in Spartan colours for the first time.