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Crewe & Nantwich crash out of cup following defeat at Droitwich RFC

Crewe & Nantwich crash out of cup following defeat at Droitwich RFC

nick price20 Nov 2017 - 07:58
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Droitwich RFC 34 – 10 Crewe & Nantwich RUFC

Crewe & Nantwich RUFC’s interest in the RFU Intermediate Cup for this season came to an end on Saturday when they crashed out by losing 34 -10 at Droitwich RFC.

Crewe travelled to Worcestershire expecting a tough game. Droitwich are currently top of their league and their only defeat so far this season was in another cup competition.

Crewe, were also on a winning run of 5 league wins so they came to the game in confident mood.

The home team started the game in a flurry as they immediately set about by attacking their visitors at pace and aggressively. Crewe looked somewhat shell shocked and found it difficult to adapt before the home team winger crashed over to score their opening try in the corner which was also converted 7-0 Droitwich.

From the restart, Crewe tried to get out of their half with forwards, Elliot Alston, Chris Sproston and Travis Mitchell carrying ball in hand only to be swamped time and time again by the home defence. From the breakdown, another surge from the Droitwich backs led to another try under the posts due to a succession of missed tackles by Crewe players. The home team were in a menacing mood and with 20 minutes approaching on the clock they were 14 – 0 up.

Once again from the restart, Crewe tried to break into the Droitwich half and sutain possession and territory in order to get a foothold in the game, but once again the home team thwarted their efforts and counter attacked again. A ruck formed just short of the Crewe 22 meter line, the ball was popped out to the Droitwich number ten, who fired a drop goal over the cross bar to extend their lead further to 17 – 0.

To their credit Crewe heads never dropped and once again they attacked and gained a foothold inside the Droitwich half. From sustained pressure, they were awarded a penalty that was within kicking distance and in order to lessen the deficit slightly, Crewe No.10 Jim Creighton slotted the kick home. 17 -3 Droitwich.

From the restart Crewe lost possession and from the ensuing phases, the ball found its way across the pitch for the Droitwich winger to score their third try of the afternoon which went unconverted making it 22-3 at half-time with the home team comfortably ahead.

Crewe started the second half much better than they had started the game. They attacked Droitwich with more menace and purpose than the first half and the home team were struggling to get out of their half. However their defence remained strong and impregnable and following a Crewe handling error, Droitwich’s backs pounced and from a counter attack down one wing a cross field kick to the other flank found the Droitwich winger who gladly gathered the ball in his hands to crash over to score a try against the run of play which was then converted to make the score Droitwich 29 – 3 Crewe & Nantwich.

Once again to their credit every one of the Crewe player kept going and attacked their opponents determined to salvage some pride and give an air of respectability to the score.
Their efforts were duly rewarded after 65 minutes when a succession of rucks led to the ball being passed through hands from one side of the pitch to the other for winger Elliott Meredith to score a well worked try in the corner which was converted by an excellent kick from the wing by Jim Creighton. 29-10 Droitwich.

Crewe made some changes at this point and amongst the replacements to come on and make his first team debut was winger Harry Price who, to his credit has worked hard over recent seasons playing 4th, 3rd and 2nd team rugby at the club to earn a well deserved shot at first team rugby and to his credit during the remainder of the game he didn’t look out of place.

As the game drew to its close and Crewe still causing the home team far more problems than they did in the first half, Droitwich somehow managed to score another break away try completely against the run of play to crown their afternoon and make it a final score of 34-10 as the try went unconverted.

Crewe’s cup campaign was over for another year, Droitwich will now go through to Round 5 and on that performance they could do very well in this competition.

Crewe Head Coach, Peter Allen said “As a game we made it very difficult for ourselves with our performance in the first quarter. To be fair I genuinely thought that for long periods of the second half we were the better team, but to their credit Droitwich had made it really tough for us by coming out of the blocks far sharper than us and they looked liked they wanted it more in the first half and from then we didn’t really get a foothold strong enough to get back in the game”. He added “Our sole focus now is the league - we are on a five game winning run in that competition and in one of the promotion places. The best way to get over this defeat today is to extend that to six wins on Saturday at home”.

Crewe & Nantwich RUFC 1st XV entertains Old Salatians RUFC at the Vagrants this Saturday 2.15pm kick off.

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