Hope Valley RUFC

Date: 30 January 2010
Venue: Home
Result: Win
Final Score: Hope Valley 81 – Burnage 0

Tries:
Dean Ancell – 1
Steve Hudson – 2
Gary Allen – 1
Dave Ryder – 2
Adam R – 1
John Eyre – 1
Tom Hodgson – 2
Steve Boundy – 1
Rory Williams – 1
Tommy McGuigan – 1

Conversions:
Dave Warren – 4
Tommy McGuigan – 4

Match Report

The game was moved to Hope Valley College due to a frozen pitch at Hollowford, and Valley started brightly. A good initial attack from Woodhouse, deputising at scrum half for the injured Spencer, threatened the Burnage defence. Another good run from Johnson kept Valley camped in the visitors 22. From a Valley scrum Will Wain drove towards the line, and from the resulting rolling maul Ancell crossed for the first score which was unconverted 5-0. Burnage pressured from the restart, but Woodhouse kicked clear, with the chasing Valley backs winning the ball, and a good run from McGuigan set up Hudson to score, with Warren kicking the conversion 12-0. Valley soaked up Burnage attacks and continued to run at the visitors with attacks from Wain, Ryder and Ancell being stopped by handling errors.Burnage won a penalty but kicked wide, and Valley attacked again with a superb handling move, the ball being passed from McGuigan to Ryder on the wing, and back inside to Martin Spencer, Wain and finally to prop Allen who scored, converted by Warren, to make it 19-0.

Valley were surging at Burnage at every opportunity, with McGuigan and Hudson in the thick of it, and the pressure told with a try to Ryder out wide making it 24-0. Another good move by the backs set up Adam for a try under the posts, and another conversion to Warren 31-0. Further pressure on the Burnage 22 saw the ball pass to Ryder who handed off the attempted tackle to score his second try out wide making it 36-0. Valley continued to play some great attacking rugby but failed to increase the lead more before the half time whistle.

Valley made some changes after the break, with Charmasson, Woodall, Williams and Gladstone taking the field. This didn’t interrupt the flow of the game, and hooker Eyre capitalised to score, with Warren converting to make it 43-0. Valleys pressure was relentless and Boundy hacked the ball through from some way out to gather and score, with McGuigan  this time converting to make the half century 50-0. Valley backs again made inroads into Burnage territory, with Warren and Hudson dominant.  Valley won a scrum in the Burnage 22 and skipper Hodgson at number eight powered over from the back, unconverted,with the score now 55-0.

Continued domination, both in the scrum and the loose, and Williams, on at scrum half, poached the ball from the back of a Burnage scrum on the 22 and managed to evade the defence and score a great solo try which was unconverted 60-0. Valley now brought on Winder and Hutchinson, and Valley continued attacking in waves. Woodhouse ran at the Burnage line and managed to do a forward roll in the process, obviously a move from the training ground. After an excellent performance McGuigan broke through to get his name on the try sheet under the posts and kicking his own conversion. 67-0. Wing Johnson, now playing for the visitors , showed great tenacity in tackling the 6’6 second row Winder, proving the point that if you tackle low you can bring anyone down. Another strong run from Hodgson brought his second try, converted by McGuigan 74-0. Hudson, who had run at Burnage all afternoon, also broke through to score under the posts for his second, converted by McGuigan to finish an exciting game 81-0.

Burnage deserve great credit for competing throughout in an excellent match. Valley remain unbeaten at the top of Division 5 East.

Updated to show scores as of the 6th Feb 2010:

Gary Allen – 3 tries
Dean Ancell – 18 tries
Kasey Blackwell – 1 try
Steve Boundy – 4 tries
Luc Charmasson – 2 tries
Jonny Elliott – 1 try
John Eyre – 3 tries
Joris Gladstone – 1 try
Tom Hodgson – 23 tries
Steve Hudson – 29 tries
Lee Hutchinson – 3 tries
Matt Johnson – 2 tries
Richard Mosley – 2 tries
Paul Nicholls – 6 tries
Dave Ryder – 9 tries
Martin Spencer – 5 tries
Rick Spencer – 6 tries, 97 conversions, 2 penalty
Will Wain – 2 tries
Dave Warren – 11 tries , 3 conversions
Rory Williams – 5 tries
Mike Woodhouse – 2 tries
Tommy McGuigan – 3 tries

Date: 23 January 2010
Venue: Home
Result: Win
Final Score: Hope Valley 43 – Spartans 0

Tries:
Dave Ryder x 1
Steve Boundy x 1
Ric Spencer x 1
Tom Hodgson x 1
Dave Warren x 1
Dean Ancell x 1
Tommy McGuigan x 1

Conversions:
Ric Spencer x 4

Match Report:
Following a lengthy break due to the bad weather, Valley started the game with a full complement of replacements eager to play their first game of 2010. They attacked downhill in the first half, but initially Spartans soaked up the pressure and kicked clear. The flow of the game was hampered by early errors after such a long break, but the stalemate was eventually broken following a kick through by Boundy. Hudson went at Spartans with a jinking run, passing to Ryder who score out wide to make it 5-0, with the conversion going just wide. Valley continued to pressurise downhill, but the Spartans defence held up and stopped our runners getting through. Hodgson was sent to the sin bin, and Spartans attacked uphill with their one man advantage, the move breaking down when they passed forward.

They continued to pressurise close to the Valley line, but the ball fell loose and was passed to Boundy, who ran like an express train almost the full length of the pitch to score out wide 10-0, again unconverted. Valley applied further pressure from the kick off, this time from Johnson. Valley won a scrum five yards out, with Ric Spencer at scrum half darting down the blind side to score to make it 15-0, again narrowly missing the conversion.  More downhill pressure was weathered by the well organised Spartan defence, keeping it to 15-0 at half time in an extremely competitive game.

From the Valley kick off the ball was fumbled by Spartans, and Hodgson, back on the field of play, powered over between the posts, with Spencer converting to make it 22-0. The game remained frenetic, with Valley attacks being repulsed time and time again. A Spartans lineout ten yards out was stolen by Valley and kicked clear only to the visitors back line. However this attack was broken up following an interception by Cornes, who then fed the ball to vice captain Warren who scored under the posts to make it 29-0 with the conversion. With the game now won Valley piled on the uphill pressure through Williams, McGuigan and Hudson.

A strong run from Ancell brought him a try, which was again converted by Spencer to make it 36-0, the relentless Valley pressure now bearing fruits. A Spartans counterattack was halted by a crunching tackle from Shires, on as a replacement for his Valley debut. Another Valley replacement was ex captain Nigel Winder, coming on at second row for his first game in many years. The Valley team attacked again through Cornes, and the ball was passed to McGuigan who scored close to the posts, with Spencer converting with the last kick of the game to make it 43-0 against a good side near the top of the league. Another clean sheet sees Valley remain unbeaten and top of the Miller 5 East table.

Man of the Match:
Nigel Winder
Mike Shires

Date: 16th January 2010
Venue: Away
Result: Postponed due to an unplayable pitch

Date: 9th January 2010
Venue: Home
Result: Postponed while the Valley pretends to be Siberia

Date: 2nd January 2010
Venue: Home
Result: Postponed due to the weather

The fixture will be played on the 6th of February 2010