4th Team

Sandbach 5 - Glossop 19 Sat 22 November 2003 Not good! At 14:10hrs on Saturday with no opposition the fourths could have been forgiven for thinking the mornings festivities had gotten to Glossop and they forgot they had a game . Fortunately this was not the case. Apparently the guy they were following was a 1st class honours holder from the Mark Thatcher school of navigation . So albeit slightly late they turned up with a bare 15 to match our 17. We would have had 18 however after being driven home by boy band poof to get his kit ,Swampy was seen walking out of the gate as we went to get changed . When challenged he started to run and was not seen again . Whats that about??? With Stoney missing due to reasons . organisation was in someone elses hands this week again. I cant mention his name as certain people think he mentions himself to much in the reports . He will herafter be reffered to as MR X . Welcome returns this week to Martin HJ and Ian Lovell who came back to the fold form various places good to see you both back chaps. With little time to warm up and group the game got underway . Depsite major protestations JP found himself as hooker binding with Martin Ashton and a now present Stoney. Both sides were very equal but the greens managed to show that little bit more enthusiasm and drive especially in the scrums where we gained a good edge driving them back each time . Mr X was joined in the 2nd row by Blackers who lowered himself to join the fray in the fourths and did a good job . Lineouts were better this week with everyone singing from the same hymn sheet and we managed to spoil most of theirs. First blood went to the greens with an excellent try from Young Steve Smith following a few nice phases of play from us . Steve has recently moved into the centres and seems to be finding it a doddle . There were few attacking runs that Steve was not part of during this game . Unfortunately we lost him after the first half due to injury . For Steve to go off this must have been genuine . Bedlegs kicked ,so suffice to say no successful conversion . This was a very enjoyeable game to be involved in first half with both sides very evenly matched. The second half saw Mr X and Steve off replaced by Kev Underwood and Chris Nelson , a bit of shuffling around and the pack looked nothing like the first half . Andy Suter stayed off for ten minutes after having fallen over and doing a bit of girlie screaming . He soon returned .Immediately the second half saw a try and conversion from Glossop and green heads dropped a bit . The second half was dogged by a few bad decisions from the greens and this effectively ended our chances. Teddies award this week to Trigger Connor . I did not see what sparked the incident but Trig got quite upset and punched a couple of their players . Luckily Sam Mallabone didnt see the punch or Trig would have been off . Although we on the touchline saw the punches the Glossop players were apparently unaware they had been hit . Trig you Ponce . Another try and conversion from the Hill dwellers and our fate was effectively sealed. Some good play in the fly half position from guest player Nick Jerman who had a good game all round , also guesting this week was turncoat Duncan Harrison who played at Scrum Half . He still gets upset when people dont catch his bad passes doesnt he? Anyway with five minutes to go their full back received the ball on their 22 and ran it the entire length of the pitch to score under the posts . He was ded ded ded quick though . Also appearing for approximately 45 seconds was Matt Graveney who played exceedingly well for the majority of that time , sorry we didnt get you on quicker Matt. A good enjoyeable game of rugby despite the loss. Next week we supposedly face Sale Amateurs . We lost last week because the opposition had four players from Sale . So quite what the full team will do I dread to think . Onwards and Upwards Sandbach were JP - Martin Ashton - Stoney - Chris Nelson - Mr X - Blackers - Martin HJ - Andy Suter - Pooley - Kev Underwood - Dunc Harrison - Nick Jerman - Steve Smith - Bedsores - Chris Howell - Matt Graveney - Ian Lovell