Tring 19 - Sevenoaks 45
As Oaks departed the field at half time, trailing 9 - 5 to Tring, they knew both the elements and local topography would be in their favour in the second half. They would go on to play the conditions superbly, as their hosts struggled to cope, as well as Oaks did in the first half, with the low winter sun in their eyes, a stiff breeze against and an upward sloped pitch under foot. This London & SE Premier fixture, held at Cow Lane in Hertfordshire, saw Oaks put in a fine display scoring seven tries and securing a bonus point win to remain in 5th place in the league table: but with only two points now separating them from 2nd. Credit to Tring who fought to the end, but Oak’s victory was underpinned by their fitness, effectiveness at the breakdown and speed of backs plays with which their hosts were unable to cope. A thoroughly deserved victory even with several absentees, highlighting the strength in Oak’s squad depth.
On a bitterly cold day Tring took an early 3-0 lead, reward for possession and territory, when Oaks were penalised for not releasing after the tackle. Then after 7 minutes the first scrum of the day promised a worrying afternoon as the men from Kent were shunted backwards to the delight of the Tring home support. However, Oaks were able to gain parity and later the advantage at the scrum as the game progressed. Oaks started to get a foothold in the game, defending well as Tring’s kicking pinned them back, breaking out with good running lines and using slick passing to threaten the home team. In the 20th minute one of those breaks started by Patrick Pellegrini, with Man of the Match Shayden Osgood making his first of many line breaks of the day to put Ben Adams through who passed onto Henry Galligan to score. Oaks led 5- 3 after 20 minutes with a difficult conversion missed.
The second quarter of the match saw Oaks probing whilst wind assisted kicking by Tring gave them the territorial advantage. Play became quite scrappy as the hosts made the most of the penalties awarded to them, choosing to kick two of them to take a 9-5 lead; whilst neither side really threatened their opponent’s try line. The half ended with some good Oaks pressure well defended by Tring who must have felt, as the half-time whistle blew, their narrow lead would be a challenge to defend in the second period.
That proved to be the case when one minute after the restart Oaks secured a turnover and executed the first of many good backs moves in the second half for Jonny short to dummy near the line to score a very well-worked try. Ben Adams slotted an excellent conversion from the touchline to make it 12-9. Tring did respond with some pressure of their own, but it felt if Oaks were to continue to play in their opponent’s half, the Hertfordshire men would struggle to contain the visitors quick ball movement and precision in attack. In the 52nd minute that proved to be the case. Having gained good field position from a 60-metre kick, a scrum followed, and the backs were in again as Shayden Osgood broke the line with this time Jonny Short giving the final pass the Awa Morris who crossed the line to make it 17-9, with a difficult conversion missed.
Another scrum after 57 minutes evidence the reversal of Tring’s earlier edge as, led by replacement Charlie Naismith, it was the home team’s turn to be shunted backwards. This led to more pressure with Oaks held up over the line after another backs move and from the resulting drop out by Tring, the ball was caught, returned and recycled for Drew Narbey-Nimeti to power through a huge gap in a tired looking Tring defence. The converted try under the posts made the score 24-9 after 61 minutes and gave Oaks a well-earned bonus point and probable victory secured. Four minutes later it was turn of the forwards as they followed up more good backs play, keeping the ball in hand for James Simmons to plough over under the posts for Oak’s 5th try of the day. Converted to make it 31-9.
A good response by Tring followed as their rolling maul functioned well to score their first try after 70 minutes; unconverted to make it 31-14. There was still time for two more scores from Oaks. One from Charlie Naismith who barreled over from 500 cm’s and Ben Adams who found another gaping hole in the home team’s defensive set up. The last word went to Tring with a score in the corner, but the day belonged to Oaks, much the better team, securing the victory with a final score of 45 – 19.
After the match Director of rugby and Head coach Adam Bowman said, ”That was a very pleasing performance, and of course an important 5 points away from home. I thought we were excellent in the second half, we controlled field position, built pressure and executed very well.
Next week sees the final home match before Christmas with the visit of Maidenhead.
