Phoenix 78 Pts - Harwell 0 Pts

Phoenix celebrated the opening league match of their 50th Anniversary Season in dramatic style by scoring an emphatic 78 point victory over Berks/Bucks & Oxon Premier League newcomers Harwell, taking the top spot in the league to boot.

Phoenix did not get off to the best of starts, gifting the visitors a scrum on the halfway line by failing to make 10 meters from the kick-off, but immediately made amends by putting Harwell under pressure and taking the ball against the head. The Phoenix pack drove on and after a Dave McMillan driving run at centre, Jason Townsend gathered the loose ball and raced over for the opening Phoenix try. A Phoenix error allowed Harwell momentarily into the Phoenix half but again the pack gained a turnover and put the visitors back inside their own 22 where Matt Symonds made his presence felt, driving through to release Dave Harris for a second Phoenix try inside 10 minutes. The Phoenix pack was beginning to show their superiority and Harwell were struggling to control them. Symonds, who was immense all afternoon, scored the third Phoenix try as the Phoenix pack pushed their opponents over the line. The Phoenix pack won more loose ball and Luke Collins was set free down the right wing and stepped inside his opposite number and inside the Harwell covering fullback to score a try to take Phoenix to 22 points and effectively taking the game away from Harwell. On the half hour Dave McMillan dummied to Matt Symonds to cross between the posts for Phoenix and take them almost out of sight at 29 points to nil with the conversion. Just before half time, Phoenix were awarded a penalty try and extended their lead to 36 points at the break. Harwell needed to regroup quickly to avoid a drubbing and it was imperative that they scored first in the second half.

Alas it was Townsend who scored for Phoenix at the start of the second half. Dave Macmillan broke again at centre and managed to feed Townsend on the tackle for the try, taking Phoenix into the fourties. There was no way back for Harwell, try as they might, the Phoenix pack seemed to gain all loose ball possession and recycled well. John Winters came on for Dave Harris in the back row and later in the game John Kilby came on for Adam McMillan whilst Tom Jost had a last minute cameo in which he almost scored. Further tries were scored by Townsend to take his match tally to 5 tries as well as adding a late penalty goal. Lar Turner and James Richardson scored tries and Harris scored his second try of the match backing up a three-quarter break. In the end Phoenix were clear winners by 78 points to nil.

Club Captain Dave Harris was extremely pleased with his side's performance. He said that the dominance of his pack was awesome at times but was also backed up by some very clever running throughout the side. He added that Matt Symonds was instrumental in making space at the back of the scrum and the length of Lar Turner’s pass at scrum-half allowed the three-quarters quick and open possession. He however expressed the need for the team to pay attention to defence as Phoenix were caught out a couple of times but recovered well. He added that credit should go to Harwell for sticking to their task to the end and that the Phoenix pack would undoubtedly be more severely tested in due course. He concluded that there could not have been a better start to the Club’s Golden Jubilee Season!

Next week Phoenix 1st XV travel to Hungerford whilst Phoenix 2nd XV entertain Newbury 3rd XV at Institute Road, kick-off 3.00 p.m.

Phoenix: E Dibb, J Richardson, J Dixon, N Wincomb, A Jones, D Harris, J Taylor, M Symonds, L Turner, K Roach, D McMillan, C Varey, A McMillan, L Collins, J Townsend

Subs: J Winters, J Kilby, T Jost