September 20th 2014

Congleton 34 Ashbourne 2s 12

FRIENDLY

Despite having a much changed team, Congleton once again showed some fantastic team play to dispatch a good, intense and competitive Ashbourne side. Although Ashbourne struck first, it was impressive to see how Congleton worked themselves into contention – they were themselves rewarded soon after with an awesome 5 pointer by Partridge, hitting hard off the ruck.
Congleton started to play their patterns to get their powerful forwards over the gain line and, with King at 10 controlling the attack, he regularly put his wider runners into space. Defensively, once they had overcome the initial Ashbourne blitz, they shored up the fringes and put constant pressure on Ashbourne’s runners who, when starved of space and time, regularly coughed up possession.
Late in the first half Congleton pummelled the Ashbourne line. The continuity to maintain possession was always going to pay off with a try and winger Bainbridge dutifully did so in the corner when the ball was flung wide from the ruck straight for Smith to deftly tip on to Bainbridge. Further tries from King (2), Wood, Watt, Partridge and Beresford, gave Congleton an unassailable lead going into the closing minutes.
There was one immense spell when Congleton had three players in the sin bin but fought tooth and nail to prevent Ashbourne scoring - awesomeness.
This performance was a brilliant response by the home side following their loss last week and this was in no small measure to their intensity. The set pieces still requires work but their phase play, particularly the communication and offload game are coming on leaps and bounds. One of the most successful All Blacks, Brad Thorne, had the mantra: "champions do extra". Congleton's performance is testament to the effort the players, coaches and back room staff have been putting in over the past few months.
Moving forward, Congleton need to maintain that same level of intensity for the full 80 minutes and continue to develop their decision making at the contact area. Significantly for this team they remained calm and purposeful (and slowed he game down intelligently) while the 3 players were in the sin bin. It was good to see Tom Kanaurous back on the pitch following injury and also Honey Badger Dalton and his wife Davenport too.
Mark Beresford was awarded Man of the Match for his stunning work in defence and a beautifully taken try when he hit a perfect line off Wood’s shoulder to sprint round the cover defence and touch down under the sticks.
A spokesperson said just prior to the end of the game “I was so impressed by the offloading and the way everyone worked so hard and for each other. The future looks brighter than ever”