OLD RUTLISHIANS 45-26 TRINITY
Match report by Gerry Murphy

Following a good win in a tight game against London Cornish and facing a team well below them in the League whom they defeated before Christmas, Trinity had hopes of consolidating their position and registering another win.  It was not to be. 

Right from the off Ruts showed that they had talented runners and created a flowing move to score a converted try after only 2 minutes. Mids were penalised just after the kick off and the hosts exploited the situation to double their tally after 6 minutes with a try by the posts. They had a chance to extend their lead with a penalty, but the ball hit the post. Quinn Singh was quick to react and made one of his trademark carries to surge upfield. ably supported by Archie McMillan. Ruts defended well but Mids had a good field position from which to move left from a dominant scrum. A high tackle on the left meant a penalty and then a good take by David Williams set up a driving maul from which scrum half Harry Wilson touched down for a try.  14-5 after 13 minutes. Ruts now produced another fierce attack and Mids were penalised. They managed to hold up the Ruts’ next surge over the line but in the next phase were offside and Ruts kicked the penalty to lead 17-5. More pressure meant that Mids were penalised again and backchat gave Ruts the ten metres they needed to make the next penalty goal an easy kick. An injury to prop Jasper Brown meant that he was replaced by Tejiri Ajuchi.

Trinity had the edge in the scrum but did not seem to be able to exploit this to the satisfaction of the referee and in fact suffered more penalties.  Ruts kicked another of these to lead 23-5. Good work from Wilson, who chipped over the top and chased well to keep possession gave Mids a good chance deep in the 22 but they over-elaborated and Ruts cleared. Ty Williams made a promising run up the left wing but was injured in the tackle and unable to play any further part. Farooq Agbalaya replaced him.  Mids now won a scrum penalty, and a quick tap saw nice hands to the right and a strong carry from Marc McEvilly. Adam Sheehy had little space on the wing but chipped through and Ruts had to concede a 5-metre scrum.  From this Trinity went left and good shape enabled Wilson to put George Kimmins in under the posts.  He converted and it was 23-12.  Mids managed to stem two strong surges from Ruts and full back Josh Joubert put in a massive tackle to add to one he had already done to keep them out and there was no further score in the half.

Trinity felt they could get back in this game, but they left some gaps in defence, and the lively Ruts backs took advantage to increase their lead to 30-12 only 2 minutes into the second half.  Back came Mids with a scrum penalty which Kimmins kicked to the 22 and then a good take by Farooq set up the maul from which McEvilly got the touchdown. A fine kick by Kimmins from out wide narrowed the gap. However, whenever the visitors got back in the game Ruts replied with more points.  Through the middle they went again and despite another huge tackle by Joubert they recycled well to add another 7 pointer, followed by a penalty, to make it 40-19. Trinity’s case did not get any better when an injury to Wilson put him out of action.  Ben Telfer, who had already had to come off for a knee injury came on at full back and Joubert moved to scrum half. Back came Mids who contested well from the kick-off and Olly Hubbard won a turnover.  Joubert then linked well and looped to sail right and beat the cover for Trinity’s bonus point try. Another fine kick by Kimmins brought it to 40-26 with 10 minutes left.

It was Ruts who had the last say, however, when they produced some lovely handling to score again before the end and close out a game which they had dominated with an impressive performance.  It was a sad day for Trinity who suffered more injuries and were not able to get on the front foot. Several injuries in recent games meant that they were already forced to play some players out of position and the high count in this game made this even worse.  Their frustration at the myriad penalties they had conceded affected their discipline and they finished with 13 men, not ideal against this talented opposition.