Sat 14 Sep 2019
Handsworth 1st XV 14 Uttoxeter 1st XV 19 Uttoxeter’s first team began their Midlands West 3 League campaign with a well fought 19-14 victory away at Handsworth in a stiff examination of skipper Jake Batista-Cabrera’s men. The town side contained a number of new faces and they are clearly starting to gel after several weeks of pre season. The front row was made up of Sam Woolley, Tom Conlon and Batista-Cabrera in the front row. Tim Carr and Harrison King played in the second row with Joe Gorman, George White and Jack Conlon in the back row. Tom Gallimore and Ben Marshall resumed their fine partnership at half backs with the formidable pairing of Tom Sherratt and Henry Knox in the centres. Mark Springall and Joe Cripps played out on the wings with young Tom Hayes at full back. Uttoxeter began the match strongly with Sherratt and Knox linking well in the back line and Jack Conlon and White making some strong bullocking runs, giving the town great momentum going forward. The town pack were also dominant especially in the scrum which gave them a lot of confidence with ball in hand. It was no surprise then when the town side got the first points of the game when from another strong run from Knox, the ebullient centre unselfishly popped to Batista-Cabrera who touched down for a cracking try, converted by Marshall, 0-7. The town side struggled to build on this momentum and were guilty of giving a few penalties away allowing the hosts to seize the initiative. Indeed just before half time Handsworth were able to level the scores with a converted try of their own which was no more than they deserved, making the half time score 7-7. Uttoxeter made a couple of changes at the start of the second half with Anthony Davies replacing King in the pack and Sam Bassett replacing Joe Cripps on the wing. Handsworth began the second half the stronger of the two sides and scored a further converted try to increase their lead to 14-7. This was during a 10 minute spell when the town side were down to 14 men with Tom Conlon sin-binned for various infringements. Handsworth also made a tactical change of their own in the pack which strengthened their scrum putting more pressure on the town front 8. The quality from both sides began to slightly diminish with handling errors making the game a stop start affair. Although Uttoxeter’s effort could not be faulted, they were guilty of trying too hard to get through their phases. Fortunately with 20 minutes to go, Uttoxeter then got a stroke of luck when the ball bounced kindly allowing Knox to scoop the ball up and sprint from 70 metres out for a breathtaking try close to the posts converted by Marshall, levelling the scores at 14-14. Nigel Hall then came on to replace Davies. The town side were still searching to find some consistency in their attacking structure which led to some stuttering plays however their defence was outstanding in the face of a Handsworth onslaught. Davies had to come back on the field to replace the injured White who had a tremendous match displaying great physicality throughout. In the final 5 minutes, the town side put together some excellent attacking phases which culminated in the flying winger Bassett scorching in at the corner for an unconverted try, giving Uttoxeter back the lead, 14-19. The lads had the composure to keep hold of the ball in the dying minutes and were able to kick it safely into touch as the final whistle blew on a well worked victory. Coach Hall was delighted with the win saying that Handsworth looked a decent outfit when allowed decent possession and an opening away league victory, the first for 6 years was no mean achievement. Historically the town side have struggled to win away from home and the side have set a season goal to win at least half their away fixtures and this win is a great start for Batista-Cabrera’s men. This week, Uttoxeter’s first team travel to old adversaries Bakewell when they play in the first round of the National Junior Vase competition.
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