17 Oct 2009

In a game which never reached the level of the first final, Enköping played ten-man percentage rugby and defended strongly to ensure that Exiles never really challenged for the title, losing again 20 – 10 to give a total aggregate win of 41 – 27 to Enköping.

The rain held off, although the pitch was fairly soft as Exiles tried to catch up four points from the first match. The Enköping team was almost unchanged while Exiles had made a number of positional and player changes.
Enköping attacked again from the start in a series of phases, but this time they were not dominating in the scrums nor getting over the gain-line. They did, however, get a penalty early on when Exiles drifted onside. Exiles worked their way down the field and got a penalty after ten minutes to level at 3 – 3. One got the impression that Exiles were beginning to get a slight edge, but flanker John got a yellow card on 15”and in the ten minutes he was off, Enköping pounced. The ensuing penalty was missed but another Exiles offence saw a kick to the corner from which Johnny Petersson drove over on 22”. Then on 25” a chip out of defence went wrong and Enköping took the chance to drive forward again and Aden Kelly got the final touch. This time Tim Johansson added the points and suddenly Enköping were ahead 15 – 3.
Exiles then came back strongly but failed to come away with any points from a five metre scrum. Then on 30” a shoulder charge in defence gave Enköping a yellow card, but Zander missed the easy ensuing penalty. Exiles contiued to press but Enköping defended strongly, although they went down to 13 men as Bobby Nave got a yellow card for another dangerous tackle. The half ended with Exiles parked on the Enköping line but too late for the ensuing 5-metre scrum.
The second half started with Exiles pressing, but the backs were not at their sharpest and play tended to be conducted between the ten metre and 22-metre line for Enköping. Exiles thus played from 30 – 50 minutes against 14 men without recording a point, not the way to win a title.
And so it went on until Enköping finally got up the field and kicked a penalty for the corner. Once again they drove over, with Johnny Petersson getting his second touchdown far out.
Back came Exiles again, but they were well contained by Enköping, who had one more sally up field without, for once, any points.
The last ten minutes was Exiles again searching for a consolation try, which they finally got when Ian came into the line and Luke converted.
Enköping were not as good this week while Exiles were better, at least in the forwards, yet the gap was bigger between the teams. Enköping far better at taking their chances.

Not too many individuall performances to enthuse about. Martinkus had another good game at flanker while the other flanker, Johnny P. took his two tries well. For Exiles, George and Stoffel played their hearts out, while Ian was very solid at fullback.
Enköping went through the season undefeated, while Exiles managed to lose five games, the most this century. Not much doubt which team deserved to win the title.

Author: HM Sr