Sat 4 Dec 2021
Victory Snatched Away
Tamworth 38
Uttoxeter 32
The travelling Town side left Tamworth with two bonus points, but were left devastated as a huge victory was taken away with the last play of the game.
More changes were enforced on coach Donald Hayes as the festive season meant players were away on holiday, at work or still recovering from injury. He was able to pick the same forward pack though that beat Stourbridge Lions two weeks before: Jack Bostock and Sam Woolley were at prop, with Jake Cabrera captaining from hooker. Brothers Gregor and Tom Hayes started in the second row, with birthday boy Aaron Lakin and Joel Walkaden on the flanks and Callum Shaw at number 8. Darryl Banton returned at scrum half, whilst Joe Gorman filled in at 10 again. Tom Sherratt played centre with the returning Scot, Lewis Bain, and there were first starts of the season for Joe Cripps and Chris Grimes on the wings. Ben Marshall slotted in at full back again, whilst on the bench Nathan Fletcher, Luke Bebbington and Taine Grout were itching to get on.
The travelling side had won their first on-field game of the season in their previous away fixture and were full of confidence, bouyed by a large and vocal travelling support that pushed the players on. The pitch was good and fairly firm in spite of the recent weather, but a strong and chilling wind made playing conditions unpredictable.
The opening 10 minutes were all Uttoxeter as wave after wave of orange and black flew forward into tackles and set pieces, dominating the larger Tamworth side. Fly-half Gorman and full-back Marshall pinned Tamworth in their own half time and time again with accurate kicks into space. Eventually the dam was broken. Joe Cripps scored the first of his 3 trys as he sailed into the corner following multiple phases in the home sides 22. The conversion was missed but Uttoxeter had a deserved 0-5 lead.
The fast start from the unfancied travellers woke Tamworth up and they scored 17 quick, unanswered points. Initially it was 3 from a penalty following a whistle from the referee for not rolling away. Then the Tamworth winger stole in to intercept a long pass on the half way line and stroll over untouched - the kick was good and the score was 10-5. A second try quickly followed when an overthrow at the lineout was collected by the Tamworth backs and poor tackling meant they went in under the sticks. The successful conversion made it 17-5 and things were looking grim for the watchful supporters. Prop Bostock had to be replaced by Fletcher with a back injury that ruled him out for the rest of the game.
Uttoxeter's players, however, seemed wholly undeterred and continued to bash their way up the park with quick hands and feet. They responded instantly following the second Tamworth try and some well-worked phases left new winger Chris Grimes with acres of space to fly into the corner and reduce the deficit. Following some unsavoury actions from the Tamworth flanker, the conversion was missed and the score 17-10.
Cripps soon scored his second of the game following a well worked move off the back of the scrum, Shaw picking up and popping to Banton who drew in the winger and gave it to Cripps. Cripps had too much pace for the covering full back and dived in to touch down. The wind made the kick impossible and the score was now 17-15. Grimes was replaced with Bebbington after another altercation as Tamworth targeted the young winger.
Before half time, Uttoxeter took a hugely deserving lead through skipper Cabrera. Switching the play from one wing to the other with two bullet passes, initially from Gorman and expertly from Shaw, following a step that wouldn't have gone amiss on Strictly later that evening, Cabrera bowled over a would be defender, ignoring an overlap, to score and get his side the lead, and their first try bonus point of the season. The conversion clattered against the crossbar - the missed kicks being a telling factor in the final scoreline - but the half time whistle went with Uttoxeter 17-20 up.
The second half started exactly as the first had ended. The men from Oldfields pinned their opponents back and continued to rack up the points. Cripps got his hat-trick try with a carbon copy of the second he had scored. A well executed move off the back of the scrum and he jogged in from half way to make it 17-25. Five minutes later and Marshall scored arguably the individual try of the game, intercepting the ball on his own 5-metre line as he tried to cover 3 defenders and sprinting the length to touch down under the sticks. He converted his own score, the only such conversion Uttoxeter managed in the game, and the scoreline was 17-32 with roughly 20 to play. Cripps had to leave the field with a leg injury, and he was replaced by Grimes.
Tamworth brought on their big guns to try and salvage something from the game, as former coach Hall wandered on to sure up a creaking Tamworth set-piece. They did manage to get a good try by cutting through the middle of the stretched Uttoxeter defence, which was converted to reduce the score to 24-32, but didn't again look like scoring until Grimes was sin-binned for an off the ball tackle. The 14 men of Uttoxeter tried valiantly to keep out the now-rampaging Tamworth side, but after a series of pick and go's they managed to just about touch down by the posts. Uttoxeter bemoaned the decision as it looked like the ball had been dropped, but the referee awarded the try and, with the kick good, the score was 31-32 with only a few minutes to play.
Tamworth stretched the beleaguered travelling defence for the final few minutes, but Uttoxeter thought they had ended the game as Gorman collected a grubber kick through and put the ball into touch. Expecting the referee to end the game, the man with the whistle said there was still time for the lineout and Uttoxeter had one more spell of possession to withstand. In credit to Tamworth, they kept the ball well and managed to secure an overlap, which they took full advantage of despite the desperate attempts to stop them. The Tamworth winger scored in the corner, the kick was converted and the home side went wild as they snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat. The whistle blew for full time and the game ended 38-32 to the home side.
Despite the unhappy scoreline, Uttoxeter should be proud of the effort they put in and have again showed that they belong at this level of rugby. Five missed conversions - all of which were incredibly difficult - was the difference on the day as they managed to out-try their opponents 6 to 5. Next week the team play away again in a league and Cup double header to high-flying Walsall, hoping to get to a Staffordshire Cup final as well as securing more vital league points.
Elsewhere, Uttoxeter 2nd XV were supposed to be playing Tamworth 2nd XV on the adjacent pitch, but despite both teams warming up and being ready for action, no referee turned up and none could be found by the home side, so the game had to be cancelled. A horribly disappointing way to spend your afternoon. They will hopefully be able to get some of that frustration out away to Shrewsbury 2nds next week.
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