10th October 2015

Congleton 1st XV 17 Vagabonds (IoM) 31

Cheshire South

Great character but accuracy missing
The bottom line: Congleton can compete in this tough league but to win they need to maintain their intensity throughout and finish off the opportunities they create.
The away side dominated the opening exchanges using their large powerful scrum to bring about two early scores but once Congleton utilised the pace of outside centre Ed Williams they realised they were firmly in the match. Although Vagabonds pinched a third try from and overthrown crooked lineout, Congleton hit back with Wood gliding through the opposition after a couple of quick tap penalties had disrupted Vagabond’s defensive pattern.
At half time Congleton talked about believing in themselves. They came out firing on all cylinders and were clearly the better side as they started to pull the large away side’s pack around the park. Williams, in his last game for Congleton, finished brilliantly after stand-off Kanauros spotted space and called for the ball from a penalty near the posts. Unfortunately Vagabonds pinched an interception try midway through the half but then it was all Congleton again. They found more space out wide for debutant wing Boom Boom Ali Coombe to stretch for an exceptionally well taken score.
There is no doubt that had the home team’s execution been better they would have won this contest. They had 9 scoring opportunities to Vagabonds’ 4 but only converted 3 of them, whereas the away side took each of theirs. The pack grew into the game but if Congleton could have pulled the opposition around the park earlier they may have been the winners. That said, this was a team with so many changes due to injuries, world cup viewing and illness that many players were out of position.
In general play Congleton were held up in the tackle too many times which has been a challenge in previous weeks too. Once they had worked out how to combat the opposition set piece they looked like they could do some damage. From one lineout a driving maul that went a full 20m was only stopped when the referee blew for a silly verbal infringement by a Congleton player.

Club President Paul Carter said after the game “we demonstrated yet again that we are comfortable competing in this league. The lads showed real character to come back from a bad start and had it not been for the interception then it would have been closer still”