Sutton & Epsom III 32 – 12 Trinity 2nd XV

Storm Bert arrived in Sutton on Saturday along with a confident Trinity A team looking to blow the opposition away to maintain their 100% winning record for the season. George Daniels led the team from the back row which had the familiar look with a blend of young bucks and not-so-young athletes. S&E were looking to avenge their 62-12 defeat to Trinity earlier in the season and the home side looks much changed from the previous fixture.

Conditions were difficult with strong winds down the pitch and driving rain, however the pitch was firm which enabled both sides to play some rugby with ball in hand. Trinity benefited with the wind in the 1st half but were kept in their 22 early in the 1st half through Sutton pressure. Crouchy was able to relieve pressure and take the play into the home 22, strong carries from BenDo, Zou and Scotty put Trinity on the front foot and with several penalty advantages Crouchy crossed for the first try of the game which he converted. Early scrums looked worrying for Trinity with some pressure on their own put in, but Dom, Zou and Hoffy used their guile to switch the pressure onto the home side and steady the ship.

Sutton hit straight back with a try after some strong carries from their highly effective number 8 and loose head prop – they moved the ball wide to score, conversion missed 5-7. Back came Trinity working some good plays through their backs with Jeevan, Callum and Ed Duffy making hald breaks, more pressure more penalties and Trinity were looking to tap & go. Stanners fed Crouchy who passed to Sparky to bulldoze over for the second score, conversion missed, 5-12 to Trinity. With the wind picking up lineouts were difficult but Hoffy was able to hit George regularly enough to produce solid set piece ball and also to apply pressure to the oppositions throw. Sutton got back into the game and from strong carries scored their second score under the posts and the first half finished 12-12.

Trinity knew the second half would be tough playing against the wind and George talked about trying to control possession in the 2nd half. Early signs were promising with Trinity working through the phases, but too often were jackled due to lack of numbers getting to the breakdown. This stumped any attacks and allowed Sutton to build pressure leading to 2 tries to get into the lead for the first time in the game. A great kickoff from Crouchy was fielded by the away side who were camped on the Sutton line after continued infringements – forward carries should have resulted in a score but strong defence from Sutton meant the ball was spilled and hacked down the pitch where George fielded the ball back on his goal-line with a massive gain for Sutton. Trinity tried to force the play towards the end of the second half, Christo making a line break up the right wing and Kitan looking dangerous with ball in hand – conditions deteriorated more and knock-ons meant momentum was lost. Sutton finished with a penalty and final score as the full time whistle went.

Credit to Trinity who kept going in awful conditions against a strong oppo – despite losing the 100% record, they remain in 2nd place in Surrey Combination 1 League and look to continue progressing in games leading upto Xmas.

Match report – Mark Macaskill
VEO Link https://app.veo.co/matches/20241123-match-mens-3xv-swifts-68cc3452/

Saturday 24th November 2024
Sutton & Epsom III 32 – 12 Trinity 2nd XV
Try Scorers – Dan Crouch, Mark Macaskill
Cons – Dan Crouch x1
Squad – Dom Plumb, Jason Hoffman, Zou Mihramane, Ben Donovan, Alex Scott, George Daniels (c), Seb Robertson, Mark Macaskill, David Stanton, Dan Crouch, Kitan Taiwo, Ed Duffy, Jeevan Saggu, Callum True, Jack Porter, Christo Patatsou