Dec 2

Written by: Richard Drage
02/12/2009 08:41

Reigate continued their quest for promotion from Surrey 4 this Saturday with a trip to Lightwater, a team they'd beaten in a hastily arranged friendly only a few weeks earlier.

The opening passages of play started promisingly for Reigate. The domination their smaller pack had displayed in the teams' previous meeting in October was again evident and was matched by more incisive back-play than their hosts. The outside three-quarters regularly found themselves getting around the edge of Lightwater's midfield defence and only some casual final passes and good cover defence kept Reigate from amassing a considerable lead in the first twenty minutes.

The pressure eventually told when some good passages of play and quick recycling of possession saw Reigate's young flyer, James Bonny, in a one-on-one with the opposition full-back. Feigning to cut inside before then exploding around the covering full-back, Bonny opened the scoring for the day with a well-finished try in the corner. The try went unconverted but the Reigate support were unconcerned given the dominance their team had shown.

The confidence of the visiting support was soon to ebb however as a poor kick was gathered by the Lightwater full-back and returned with interest. A lapse in defensive concentration saw the Lightwater player break free and only the greater pace of the Reigate back-line saw him pulled down just yards from the line. The effort shown in covering back was unfortunately wasted however, as the Lightwater scrum-half managed to pick up the loose ball and desperately reach over the whitewash for an equalising try - the conversion went begging despite the seemingly well-rehearsed pre-kick ritual of the Lightwater fly-half.

Before the first half drew to a close, some good line-out work from the Reigate pick, in particular Barry Ridler and Lyndon "Lowtower" Kinsley, saw attacking ball distributed to the ever-dangerous Reigate backline. A shimmy of the hips that wouldn't have been amiss on Strictly Come Dancing saw Reigate's stand-off, Simon King, break through the Lightwater defence. He outpaced the cover to score under the posts leaving Reigate 12-5 up at half-time.

The second half was completed in failing light and whilst the players seemed to cope relatively well with the reduced visibility, others on and around the pitch seemed to struggle. The game continued on an even footing, but Lightwater had the lion's share of the territory as Reigate struggled to escape from their own half. Their plight was further hampered by a variety of injuries as ever-present captain, James Blashfield, took a blow to the face whilst all-action flanker, Andrew Turner, took one to the nose. Nevertheless Reigate's defence held firm, despite some increasingly unexpected refereeing decisions.

With seconds to go, the game took a further unexpected twist when the match official confirmed that the forthcoming scrummage was to be the last play of the game. Reigate maintained possession and conscious of the proximity of the final whistle, kicked the ball to touch in an attempt to close out the game. Despite the earlier indications, the referee indicated that sufficient time remained for a Lightwater lineout close to the Reigate 22 yard line, despite protestations from a perplexed Reigate back-line. Putting the time-keeping issue out of their mind, Reigate managed to nullify Lightwater's next passage of play and saw them secure the league points, helping them maintain their early season pressure on the league leaders.

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