17’s Denied in Final Play at Malton

Bees started the game brightly; Joe Bashforth claimed the kick off and the ball was swiftly down the backs for Ryan Wilson to have an early burst. Good recycling got us well into opposition territory but a penalty awarded against Bees for not releasing gave Malton a chance to counter and it was immediately obvious that they too were capable of good running rugby. It took a solid tackle by Jack Meggitt to halt Malton’s progress as their winger was bundled into touch. But a poor Bees line out was stolen by Malton, whose confidence was growing with every play. Both teams, to their credit were trying to play running rugby but conditions were not ideal. The recent rain and a chill breeze made handling a little difficult and a Malton knock on brought some respite for Bees. Nick Gore made a good clearance from the scrum and an accidental offside gave Bees another scrum on half way. That one was won against the head and Malton were on the attack again. Despite some stalwart defence by Bees, this time Malton kept the pressure up and were rewarded with a converted try from a 5m scrum some 10 minutes into the game. From Nick Gore’s kick off, the game ebbed and flowed around half way with errors and infringements from both sides. But a fine move from a Malton scrum saw their full back burst into the line at pace, evading a couple of Bees defenders, to score under the posts taking the score to 14-0. More good rugby followed from both sides, including a great run from Andy Nicz, who was denied by a desperate tackle inches from the try line, but the score remained at 14-0 at half time.
As usual in these situations, Hags half-time talk had the desired effect as Bees came out fighting. Good aggression from the kick off by Wildman and the ball was ours – a well placed kick from Nick Gore took us into Malton’s 22 and good pressure gained us a penalty that was nicely through the backs for Matty Dilworth to score in the corner. A great conversion by Nick Gore and we were back in the game at 14-7. Once again, it was Joe Bash who claimed the kick off; Joe was well supported by Wildman and Pete Booth as we advanced towards half-way. Another good offensive chip from Nick Gore and a knock on by Malton gave Bees the scrum. A good drive by Will Scrimshaw sucked Malton in for Tony Butterworth to sling it out. A great dummy run from Sam Jeffrey pulled in yet more Malton defenders to give Ryan Wilson a bit of space. Ryan had sneaked infield from the wing and still had plenty to do, but ‘Snakehips’ was able to slither through a couple of tackles to score under the posts. Nick converted to make it 14-14. Understandably Malton were none too pleased at having let a 14-0 lead slip and some changes were made – back came some of their bigger lads to crank things up for the remaining 10 minutes or so. Whilst not quite a “Great Escape”, it would certainly have been a good point for Bees if we could hang on to the draw. And we defended resolutely as Malton threw everything but the kitchen sink at us. We even got a bit of help from them as they chose to run a very kickable penalty with just 2 minutes to go. Malton were camped in the Bees 22 as another penalty claim by Malton for handling on the floor was waved away by the ref. With the clock counting down, a knock on by Malton gave Bees a scrum just 5m in from touch. The ref called the last play. And the rest, as they say, is history! Whether we genuinely thought we could run the ball from our own try line or whether there was a communication breakdown, only those on the pitch will know, but we chose to sling the ball out rather than hack it straight into touch and settle for a share of the points. And we paid dearly for that mistake as Malton’s winger clinched the victory to a mixture of cheers and groans depending which side of the A1 you come from.
Despite the disappointment of losing this game, there are still lots of positives to take. Malton and Norton provided formidable opposition and as the home side, they enjoyed a fair amount of possession and territory. And although Bees were not quite at their best, we played with great conviction and determination. Credit is due for the way that we came back to level the scores in the second half. Our smaller pack competed well – in the set pieces and open play, it was probably honours even. Our line-outs improved as the game wore on with Liam Hagerty looking dominant in the later exchanges. In the backs, we were inventive going forward and in defence, we were generally solid. Ryan Wilson won man of the match for his try and for some good defensive play, including a clever clearing kick that he managed to bounce into touch via the Malton winger giving Bees the line out. This is proving to be a very competitive league. Roll on next Sunday!
By Dave Butterworth