Sat 5 Oct 2019
Following a 13 try victory the week before Shire Hall pulled together their most complete performance of the season, winning with a bonus point away to a previously unbeaten Phoenix side.
Past visits to Phoenix have not been happy occasions for Shire Hall as the enormous Phoenix pack has been a dominant force on their home turf. However, following a positive first ten minutes for the home side - who on two occasions almost mauled their way over the Shire line – it was the Shire pack who came to dominate proceedings in an attritional contest.
Whilst the majority of the first half was spent between the two sides’ 22’s – Shire Hall executed on both occasions they attacked the Phoenix line. The first try arrived after 20 minutes and was built off a number of forward carries, before the ball was fizzed wide for man mountain outside centre Jordan Cole to crash over from short range. Matt Margot added the extras.
The second arrived ten minutes later and was a result of quick thinking and reacting by a number of players. After Phoenix infringed on their 10 metre line, Fly Half Tom Gough spotted the defence had switched off and quick tapped taking a number of defenders out of the game. After beating a handful of players he offloaded to Shire MOM Chris Wiseman who bulldozed his way to within meters of the try line before offloading to the supporting Matt Margot who scored for the 4th consecutive game.
The half time score was 0-12 with only real blemish losing Fly Half Tom Gough who split his eye open while leading by example in defence.
The second half represented how far the club has progressed in 6 months as the fitter Shire Hall side began to outmuscle the tiring Phoenix pack. A number of scrums were won against the head as the front row of Eric Murray, Jack Proctor and Will Jellicoe began to dominate their opposite numbers (a complete reversal of Shire’s last visit to Phoenix) and the majority of the half was played down the Phoenix half.
Shire Hall extended the lead to 19 points following a series of hard carries and offloads in the Phoenix 22 with work horse Olly Jarrett finishing the sequence under the Phoenix posts. Phoenix looked to make a game of it as they responded with a close range score of their own, reducing the deficit to 5-19. It was Shire Hall who had the last say and crucially picked up the 4 try bonus point as the one man wrecking ball Dan Neale fended off a number of attempted tackles as he broke down the wing for his 5th (yes 5th) try in two games. Despite spending the final minutes on the Phoenix line Shire couldn’t add to the lead in the remaining minutes with the game ending 5-24.
Chris Wiseman was Shire Hall’s man of the match following a number of strong carries and great work around the ruck and ‘Forever Relentless’ Eric Murray was Dick of the Day for his increasingly bizarre motivational war cries!
Shire Hall have a well earned break week next weekend before picking up at home on 19th October to Thatcham II’s where they will look to make it 3 wins from 3.
