Trinity 1st XV travelled to Old Rutlishians in the 2nd round of the National Community Cup.

OLD RUTLISHIANS 29-48 TRINITY

Old Ruts kick off was fielded well by prop Jasper Brown and from the recycle Rhys Gormley put in a superb box kick deep into the Old Ruts half. The kick was chased and caught by Max Mouna on the wing putting Trinity immediately on the front foot! A string carry by Quinn Singh then set up a dangerous attack but as Trinity attempted to recycle the ball close to the Ruts line the ref awarded the home team a penalty and they were able to clear their line. However this did not relieve the pressure as the Trinity rush defence from the Ruts lineout forced Ruts into conceding a penalty of their own which allowed George Kimmins to put the opening points of the game in the board and give Trinity a lead of 0-3 after only 3 minutes.

Both teams them match each other for the next 10 minutes as play moved from one end of the pitch to the other with Ruts eventually getting the first try of the game when one of their players gathered the ball as it was spilt in a mail to break through unchallenged to score. The kick was converted and Ruts led 7-3.

After a further 10 minutes of play Ruts were next to trouble the scoreboard as they broke from deep in their own half to race down the wing following a well-timed pass on the half way line although Trinity did well to race back to prevent the attacker from going near to the posts and the conversion was missed.

Within minutes Ruts were extending their lead further as good hands put their right winger in for a try in the corner! The kick was missed but Ruts were now in the lead by 17-3 and it was starting to look like it could turn into a long day for Trinity!

However Trinity dug deep and started to regain control of the game. A good flow of play took them into the Ruts 22 and Olly Hubbard timed his offload to Kimmins well for Trinity to run in their 1st try of the game. The conversion was from out wide but that was no issue for Kimmins as the score was reduced to 17-10.

Trinity were now fired up and play continued to take place in the Ruts half! Ruts eventually conceded a penalty 5 meters out from there and before anyone else was able to react Ben Vaillant tapped and dived over the try line! The kick from Kimmins brining the score level to 17 all.

With minutes of the half remaining Ruts attacked from the resulting restart and frustratingly for Trinity got back in the lead as they through to score a converted try with the last play of the half to give the halftime score of 24-17.

Trinity were able to bring Farooq Agbalaya on at half time and he was instantly causing problems for the Ruts defence. After 12 minutes of the half Trinity finally got the score line back to all square at 24-24 as Marc McEvilly bulldozed his way over for the try and Kimmins once again converted.

With their tails now up Trinity were in full flow! Agbalaya breaking out of a mail on the half way line raced into the Ruts half. As he got to the 22 metre line he gave a perfectly timed pass to Gormley who raced through under the sticks for the score! With the extra two from the boot Trinity were leading 24-31.

Ruts were not prepared to lay down and give this one up and were soon back attacking the Mids line! Following a number of pick and goes the ball was floated out wide with a lofted pass for the Ruts winger to score in the corner and narrow the score to 29-31.

With 15 minutes left McEvilly retired injured with AXV stalwart Jason Hoffmann coming on for his 1st XV debut!

Trinity were once again attacking and following good hands from the backs the ball found its way to Josh Joubert joint the line from fullback. Joubert dummied his opposite man leaving him sat on the floor as he cut back inside to finish off a great team try in style. The ever-reliable boot of Kimmins added the extra points to take the score to 29-38.

Joubert was starting to get a lot of ball and smithing darting run saw him storm through into the Ruts 22. A perfectly executed pass to Ty Williams sent Williams in unopposed for Trinity’s 6th try of the match and with the addition points a 29-45 lead.

With the clock ticking down Trinity we’re awarded a penalty in front of the post which allowed Trinity to finish the game as they had started with Kimmins making it 8 out 8 successful kicks and Trinity through to the next round of the cup with an entertaining 29-48 victory!

We look forward to another entertaining battle with Ruts when they visit Lime Meadow Avenue for our next 1st XV fixture on Saturday 8 November.

MATCH REPORT from RUSSELL JONES.