Tadley 78 Pts v Phoenix 0 Pts

SLOUGH OBSERVER:

Phoenix RFC director of rugby Tim Schofield admits his side are suffering from ‘horrendous injuries’ after their heaviest defeat in over four years on Saturday. Phoenix are in the middle of an injury crisis but they never gave up.

The Taplow-based club sent a side weakened by inexperience and unavailability to Tadley and paid the ultimate price, going down 78-0.

Director of Rugby Tim Schofield lamented: “We’ve got a dozen first team injuries at the moment and have players away. We’ve just had some horrendous injuries this year. Whether that’s a lack of fitness or bad luck it’s hard to tell. We had five new players in the team on Saturday who hadn’t played first team rugby before, and people who probably shouldn’t be competing at that level. We lost our shape, especially in the backs, and with dry conditions Tadley managed to move them around quite well. On another day it could’ve been over 100 points, but our heads never dropped and the team played very well considering what we had - they never gave up.”

It did not take long for Tadley to break Phoenix’s resistance when scrum-half Jake Cottrell crossed the line for the first of his two tries.

The home side ran in two further scores before the 10 minute mark through full-back Chris Dennison and veteran Craig Raymond, who also notched another later in the game.

There was no letting up from the hosts with man-of-the-match Cottrell and Raymond pulling the strings and their pack firmly on top. Tadley continued to dominate and every player in the backs went on to notch a try, with Charlie Cox (2), Tom Bartlett, Gareth Cripps-Jones and Adam Stanley all dabbing down.

The hosts were already 43-0 up at half-time and there was no easing off after the break. They continued to punch holes in the Phoenix defence and Raymond’s well-oiled kicking performance took him past the 100-point mark for the season. Cox is also in the running for leading try scorer following a second-half brace.

Anderson also forced his way over the whitewash before it was left to second-row Byron Bartlett to finish off an excellent emphatic win by running in a 12th try.

Despite the historic defeat, Schofield insists Phoenix are moving forward with a successful recruitment programme and predicts the first team will soon turn their fortunes around.

“We’ve decided this year to focus on the club rather than just on the first team,” he explained. “We’re focusing less on the first team to try and build strength within the club. My goal is to fulfill all first and second team fixtures with a recruitment drive. We will put a plan in place to get our strongest side out but not at the expense of the second team. The next four games are all very winnable for us. We know we’ve got the personnel, we have just got to get them back.”

Match Report:

On Saturday 16 true and committed Phoenix rugby players took the field against league-topping Tadley.

Ed Dibb drove from Wales (left his lady there).
James Richardson hooked for the first time this season.
Iain Watkinson had a fantastic game putting loads of work in.
Tom Porter drove with new cap Stanley from London both had great games.
Neil Wincomb was working in London and had to leave early to get to the game... full of flu.
Luke Maundrill played fantastic rugby and brought his lady down to watch.
Jamie Willis did the same.
Stanley Green did the sames
Tom Pell played his heart out.
Kieran Roche did the same.
Mike Lloyd out of position at 12 worked hard.
John Kilby did a fantastic job with lots of cover tackling.
James Flynn first cap for the 1st team running hard and tackling guys twice his side.
Joe Perring first cap and worked hard to keep up.
Chris Harrison couldn't really play away as he was on shift, but made a plan and rushed off to work covered in mud.
Sean Flynn first cap for the 1st team.

All 16 for the above reason were the “man of the match” you did yourself and the club proud.

So with 4 new caps, and 4 players out of position we took on Tadley. For the first 15 minutes we kept them scoreless and controlled the pace of the game. Tadley's backs recognised we had new caps and started punishing us with tries out wide.

Unfortunately we leaked quite a few during the game but the boys kept their heads up and did not relent during the game. After the match a few of the Tadley players came and congratulated our boys for never giving up... Fantastic spirit.

Final score 78-0.

Director of rugby Tim Schofield - "I really wish I had 60 players like the 16 who came and gave their best on Saturday."