Hungerford 40 Pts v Phoenix 19 Pts

Phoenix had a really strong team out against Hungerford this weekend and Director of Rugby, Tim Schofield was certainly expecting a good performance, but somehow on the day it took Phoenix 35 minutes to start gelling and then ended up chasing the game the whole second half.

Captain Tom Porter really tried to get the team motivated and gelling but it took time. Hungerford scored 3 unanswered tries in the first half hour, and with a further penalty kick, were leading 20-0 with most of the first half played. This seemed to get Phoenix, as a team, annoyed and full back Brad Coomber scored a late try making the score 20-5 to Hungerford at half time.

Early in the 2nd half Simon K scored near the posts making the score 20-12 and it looked like Phoenix were on the verge of a huge come back. However, Phoenix then let Hungerford through for a soft try making the score 27-12, before James Richardson scored Phoenix’s 3rd try after a period of sustained pressure on the Hungerford line. 27-19 to Hungerford.

Hungerford added a further penalty to make it 30-19. However in pushing for the bonus point try and potentially the win, Phoenix started to leave gaps when the ball was turned over, and Hungerford scored 2 breakaway tries in the last 10 minutes to give a slight gloss to the final score: 40-19.

Director of Rugby Tim Schofield commented that, “We did not defend well, we did not particularly gel as a side and this I think was as a result of 4 weeks without a match and also the lack of training in the corresponding period.”

Phoenix: Tom Porter (Cap), R Gill, E Dibb, N Wincomb, A Bird, I Watkinson, Tony Porter, L Maundrill; M Lander, K Roche, J Kilby, Simon K, C Varey, T Pell, B Coomber
Subs: J Richardson, M Lloyd, D Harris