LSA Warriors make it four in a row in the league......

27 October 2007

By Matt Aristizabal

When one of the opposition players gets sin-binned for punching one of your danger-men on one of his first touches you know what sort of game it’s going to be.  The visiting Camberley fans seemed to have been brought along to match the on-field provocation with off-field taunts that in some cases were bordering on racist. The match started well enough, with the Warriors facing what looked to be their toughest competition so far. The early big hits set the tone for the rest of the game. When a scuffle broke out on the halfway line and the game was allowed to continue Matt Fendick tried to use the space with a clever kick to the wing but the bounce didn’t favour Ben Bougas as LSA tried to take an early lead.

Camberley in fact managed to take the early lead though a penalty but on 14 minutes Brad Hall continued where he left off last week by scoring after a great break from Fendick as LSA hit back and the pack started to exert its dominance as LSA eased up the pitch. Hall continued his fine performance with a try seven minutes later, and Fendick converted to make it 12-3. The Warriors always looked dangerous, and Christian Van Rooyen combined well with Vaughan Gilson to put in Gerry Kruger after a penalty on 34 minutes but the game again degenerated and Van Rooyen was sin-binned more than a little unfairly soon after. As the break loomed Camberley managed to kick another penalty, but the quality of the game was poor due to a distinct lack of refereeing control and the teams went in at 17-6.

A bad kick-off and lots of mistakes allowed Camberley more possession than they deserved but a piece of individual brilliance by the always dangerous Trevor Grundelingh stretched the lead to 24-6 as Gilson kicked the extras, taking over from the injured Fendick. This score essentially sealed the game, and the LSA pack started to dominate both line-out and scrum regardless of who had possession. Gilson added to his points tally by converting his own try with a great kick after good support from Bougas who had done well after another good break by Hall.

In the 2nd half the game stagnated a bit as Camberley turned to tactics of dubious legality as their number 5 was sent off for fighting with LSA flanker Hugo Baldwin (who got a yellow) and the game was all but over. Malcolm Mirfin made up for earlier handling errors to score after a fantastic chip and chase to make it 36-6 which is how it remained until the last action of the game when Camberley kicked a penalty to make the final score 36-9.

The spirit in which the game had been played, and supported, was disappointing for everyone at the club and none more so than for Head Coach Bob Crooks: “Despite some of the most extreme provocation I’ve seen in 16 years of coaching at many levels, the team held their discipline fantastically well and it’s a credit to us that Camberley never looked like winning and just came to limit the scoring - we did well to keep our discipline to the end and can now look forward to next week.”

KWV Wines man-of-the-match this week was shared by the returning Vaughan Gilson and Trevor Grundelingh who managed to stand out despite very trying conditions.