Wild Geese Clip Combe's Wings With Last Post

Perhaps not surprising when two sides depend heavily on their defensive strengths and Combe were not able to release their backs enough which would, as always, made the decisive difference.

Wild Geese opened the scoring early in the game when a kick out of mid-field defence and a fortunate bounce found their right touch, deep in Combe's 22, then a series of pick and drives that didn't make any real ground was ultimately successful when tight head prop Mike Fraher (sub in the programme) emerged from beneath a pile of players as the one to have got the touchdown.

The conversion by full-back Ollie Turner was a laudable effort with a sound kick from a wideish angle which made the effort at a penalty five minutes later the more surprising. From no distance out and in front of the posts I'm told it was pulled wide (I didn't see it, writing it up in my notes) and was only alerted to it by wondering why James Cameron was preparing to drop out from Combe's 22!

All that took place in the first 11 minutes of the half and the second quarter was underway before a series of penalties took us through to the interval.

Combe had the first chance from left of the posts but it slipped across the front which was put right 3 minutes later when James Cameron successfully slotted home from a similar position.

Four minutes later Ollie Turner restored Wild Geese's lead of seven points with another effort and four minutes before the end of the half James Cameron closed the gap to 6—10 at the interval with Combe's second successful penalty.

It could have been that Combe left the field at the break, WG's choosing to stay out in the cold, but there seemed to be more action in the first three minutes of the half than there was virtually for most of the first. It came to fruition when the try machine that is Sam Randle crossed in the left corner. Significantly, the James Cameron conversion was a magnificent effort and the seven points put Combe in front for the first time.

That galvanised Wild Geese and for ten minutes they played, aided by penalty after penalty in and around Combe's 22 often gaining attacking 5-metre scrums. It's amazing the Combe defence held out for so long and that when they did succumb it was a cross-field kick fielded by the right-wing George Owen. The Ollie Turner conversion was just as impressive as Combe's earlier and put Wild Geese back in front 17—13.

This ten minutes of play was more like 20 on the clock as the officials and players took an age to sort themselves out after stop after stop that destroyed the game of any sort of spectacle with yellow cards floating about like confetti, quite mysteriously, most of the time.

Some pride was restored by Combe in pretty short order when first they crossed the line but Wild Geese were saved by an earlier offence which resulted in yet another penalty but not confounded Combe persevered until Sam Randle went over in the opposite corner for Combe to take the narrowest of leads.

It took another brilliant James Cameron conversion to set up the final drama which saw only partial justice done albeit rough justice on a Combe side probably as perplexed as most spectators at the stop start nature of a very long seeming game.

For perhaps ten minutes they refused to concede territory to a tiring WG's so what was obviously the last play of the match resulting from the inevitable penalty Ollie Turner, from only just inside the Combe half, stepped up to take a crucial kick to avoid only the second defeat of the season for his side. He slotted it with remarkable bravery and calmness.

Not a good result for either side but perhaps a fitting one given the nature of the game.

Match Reporter: Mike Attewell. (Back from retirement more times than Frank Sinatra, and if you need to ask who he is don't bother me!)