Abdilahi injured as Wanderers go through to Mallett Semis
St Josephs 10
Wanderers 20
“A scrappy game in difficult conditions. We were probably guilty of playing too much rugby” commented manager Mark Gould.
On a cold windy night at St Josephs the Wanderers fought past a resilient St Josephs side to progress in the Mallett cup. The visitors high tempo approach was always going to be hard for the “Joes” to compete with but their resilience in defence was excellent as time and time again they thwarted the Wanderers attacks. With Ceri Morris and Gruff Tough orchestrating the play and moving the ball wide at every opportunity the home side scramble defence was in action often. A Morris penalty set the scoreboard moving and then a length of the field try involving George Cotrell, rounded off by Aron Arthur put the Wanderers ahead 0-10 but however hard they tried they could not stretch further ahead. A second Morris penalty did extend the lead to 0-13 but as the half time whistle approached the home side rallied and gained a deserved try after a period of pressure to send the sides into the break at 5-13.
The second half saw the Wanderers call for fresh legs (a loose description for some LH?) and the visitors continued to shoot themselves in the foot by conceding silly penalties. The home side mounted several dogged attacks repelled by determined defence from the visitors. “Joes” reduced the arrears with their second try making it 10-13 before the definitive score. Tough, who had threatened around the base of rucks all evening, finally stepped and broke clear and he raced away to score. Morris added the extras to give the Wanderers some breathing space. As the gloom of the evening descended the game ebbed and flowed but there were no further scores. Sadly the game had to be called short in its dying minutes when sub Jamal Abdilahi received a severe knee injury to his right leg which resulted in the officials and sides agreeing to end proceedings sending the Wanderers through to a Semi Final with Rumney.
Wanderers scorers:
Tries: Aron Arthur, Gruff Tough
Cons: Ceri Morris (2)
Pens: Ceri Morris (2)
Pics: https://flic.kr/ps/c7gzd