September 13th 2014

Congleton 1st XV 13 Ramsey (IOM) 38

DOWN TO EARTH WITH A BANG

There is no doubt Ramsey, over from the Isles of Mann, are going to be one of the sides to watch this season. Having come down a league, their intensity and speed to the breakdown gave them a strong advantage in this league clash.
Disappointingly, Congleton had several key players missing and, with the early kick off affecting availability, Ramsey soon took control. Whereas last week's opponents were unable to test Congleton, Ramsey pressurised the home side into a number of uncharacteristic errors which led to am early lead for the visitors.
Ramsey's speed to any breakdown was impressive and if Congleton have ambitions to be near the top of the league come April, then each and every player need to play at a higher intensity for every minute of every match.
That said, there were some positives. Once they controlled the ball and got into their pattern, Congleton looked very good indeed and, following a successful penalty 20 minutes in, King fed Williams on a fabulous hard line to grab a 5 pointer.
Ramsey were well educated up front and over the course of the
match their scrum got the upper hand and gave their backs space in which to work.
Congleton's back line on the other hand had little clean go forward ball off set pieces. A couple of changes to the back line shored up the defence mid way through the second half and it gave elusive Willis a little more space to operate. Following a planned maul and excellent drive from a scrum deep inside opposition territory, Willis standing at 10 cut back against the grain and, like a mouse looking or cheese, he sniffled his way wonderfully to the line to give Congleton hope.
For the Congleton coaches, having high numbers of injuries and unavailabilities was incredibly frustrating as with a full squad this would have been a far closer - make no mistake today's match was winnable.
Congleton looked excellent in parts and had some success playing their much improved offload game. When they picked up the pace by running free kicks and penalties they were far more threatening as they smashed through tackles to take them over the gain line. They started to show some of the self belief they built up at the back end of last season but unfortunately, the damage was done during the early exchanges.
The lineout was an area where Congleton expected more but both teams seemed to nullify each other. It's a long season and losing to a good side like Ramsey can only help Congleton appreciate what they need to do in order to compete at a higher level. Certainly they will need to concentrate for the full 80 in every match and believe they can beat all comers. They will need to nail their tackles. They will need to work smarter at the break down - quicker to arrive and with more desire when they get there. In addition, they need to share the workload around the park as too few people did the majority of the work.
Man of the Match went to Wood for his outstanding contribution around the park. One of the spectators said afterwards "we've been watching for several years now and we are genuinely excited as Congleton have some exciting talent. They play with plenty character and it seems to us that their commitment to training is paying off. They played a better team today so shouldn't be too disappointed".