Rugby: Vale of Lune one game away from promotion after latest play off success

MATCH REPORT: West Bridgford 51 – 55 Vale of Lune

Vale of Lune RUFC are one game away from promotion after they come through a tense encounter to win their third straight play off match.

For this play-off fixture the Vale made the long journey to play their opponents West Bridgford of the Regional 2 North Midlands league. Due to shared sporting ground commitments, the game was transferred to the Lady Bay Sports Ground home of Nottingham Rugby Club.

West started in earnest with a cross field kick received by their left winger for an unconverted try. Vale quickly responded with a copybook catch and drive move resulting in Sam Walton touching down with Jamie Mayall converting. A Mayall penalty was followed by an unconverted Sam Wallbank try.

The opening quarter of the game with the Vale scrum and line out going well provided scrum half Billy Swarbrick ample possession for his backs.

West defended well and at any given opportunity moved the ball quickly to either of their elusive wingers resulting in a 25 minute spell whereby they scored 5 tries, 2 conversions plus a penalty with their left winger claiming his hat- trick. No Vale reply brought a half time score of 39-15 to West.

From the restart Vale's seemingly forlorn cause was not helped by referee Mr.Monaghan's sending off of Josh Sutcliffe for an enforced 10 minute breather after an off the ball incident. With replacements on the pitch the Vale returned to the fray galvanised by head coach Mark Goodman's no doubt volatile half time address. Within a 15 minute period, Vale claimed tries by Jack Ayrton, Harm Dokter and Henry Clifton respectively all converted by Jamie Mayall.

West replied with a further try but the Vale through sheer doggedness and the vociferous support of their travelling supporters rallied again. Flying winger Ryan Busby scored and after the abrasive Sam Wallbank scoring his 2nd. Mayall duly added the extras.

For the first time in the game Vale took the lead to bring the score line to 48-44 in their favour and went further ahead when the referee awarded a penalty try against West for multiple infringements bringing the score line to 55-44.

No game is over until the final whistle and West came again in the last few minutes with a converted try bringing the game to a nerve shredding climax. In the last minute pounding on the Vale line West lost possession of the ball and the game was concluded by the ever reliable boot of Jamie Mayall with the best clearance kick of the season.

The play-off campaign reaches its climax next Saturday, with a winner-takes-all clash away against Level 5 opponents, Manchester RUFC. Kick off at 3pm.

Team: A.Fowler, H.Dokter, R.Pillow, H. Fellows, J.Sutcliffe, J. Ayrton, S.Wallbank, S.Walton, B.Swarbrick, H.Finan, R.Busby, J. Mayall, E.Abdelghafar, D.Leighton, H.Clifton.

Reps: J.Crompton, M.Bradshaw, J.McFarlane, A.Bolton.