| A plucky Tadley side inspired by veteran fly half Craig Raymond gave
Reading a few shocks in this second round EDF Intermediate Cup game before the
Sonning Lane men eventually ran out easy if not completely convincing winners.
It was once again the Reading forwards who paved the way to victory. Their
scrum was again the foundation on which their victory was built and they
also dominated the line outs and set up some fine driving mauls. |
| Grierson, Pryor and Keneally were the pick of the pack in the tight
whilst Heirene showed up well in the loose bagging two tries as a reward for his
strong running. The Reading backs showed up well in patches but did not make the
most of all the possesion the forwards won. Blackstock was the pick with his
speedy, incisive running from full back. |
| Tadley on the other hand although well beaten in the tight caused their
South West one opponents plenty of problems in the loose. In Raymond they had the
man of the match as he showed he had lost little of the rugby brain that had made
him such a good player at a higher level. His tactical kicking and his ability to set
up counter attacks meant he was a constant source of problems to Reading.
He combined well with wings Dampies and Jones whose speed tested the Reading backs
through the game. |
| Reading started brightly and were soon 14-0 up with tries from Kenneally
and Blackstock, the later after a good passing move. Both were converted by Tweedie.
Raymond dropped a goal and Tweedie then kicked a penalty before Tadley struck back
with two tries from Pike and Dempies the second after an impressive run eluding two
tacklers Raymond converting one. |
| The Reading forwards then came back with a pushover from a scrum close
to the line , Scott Heirene claiming the first of his tries with Tweedie converting
but when another Reading attack finished in a penalty this was swiftly taken and
returned the length of the field with interest for Dampies to cross for his second
try converted by Raymond. This was soon answered by Reading with a Wallace try
which with the added points from Tweedie gave them an interval lead of 31-22. |
| Soon after the break Reading increased the lead when Brooks in his first
game for a month ran an excellent angle to score under the points for Tweedie
to convert. Tadley in a rare excursion into Reading territory reduced the lead
to nine points with a converted try from Seal. However Reading then kept them in
their own half for most of the rest of the game and Tweedie pounced on a mistake
when Tadley tried to run the ball in their own 22 to score under the posts and
added a sixth conversion to bring his personal points tally to 20. |
| As darkness fell the game petered out into a series of handling errors on both sides, one ray of light in this
gloom was Heirene’s second try to bring up Reading’s 50. |
| With table toppers Bracknell next up for Reading they will have to tighten
up their defensive work and be more disciplined and accurate when in possession
of the ball if they are to make it three local wins in a row. Tadley can take some
hope from this performance for the second half of their league season. |
| READING: Alex Blackstock; Simon Kalafusz (Ben Needham 70),
Alex Wallace (capt), Andy Tweedie, Nick Brooks; Billy Bragg, Tom Goodhew; Pete Lawless
(Adam Boster 68) Richard Pryor, Andrew Grierson, Gary McCloughlin, Sean Kenneally,
Dan Phillips (Tristan Haines 54) , Tim Laverye (Justin Wheeler 75), Scott Heirene |
| Scoring sequence: 5 min Keneally try, Tweedie con (0-7),
8 mins Blackstock try Tweedie con (0-14) 11 min Raymond drop goal (3-14),
13 min Tweedie pen (3-17) 17min Pike try Raymond con (10-17), 20 min Dampies try
(15-17), 27 min Heirene try Tweedie con (15-24), 31 min Dampies try Raymond con
(22-24) 33 min Wallace try Tweedie con (22-31) 42 min Brooks try Tweedie con
(22 – 38) 54min Seal try Raymond con (29 – 38) 62 min Tweedie try and con (29-45)
79min Heirene try (29-50)
|
| Peter Chidgey |