Battling Ravens beaten in opener - The Redditch Standard

Battling Ravens beaten in opener

Redditch Editorial 10th May, 2017   0

NORTH East Worcestershire Ravens were beaten 52-38 by visitors Sherwood Wolf Hunt A in an entertaining opening Midlands League fixture of the season.

On looking at the team sheet pre-game, it looked like Ravens were in for a long afternoon as they only had 13 players, which meant there were no replacements and all 13 would have to put in an 80-minute shift whilst Sherwood had seven on the bench.

The game was only two minutes old when Sherwood posted the first points of the game with a try under the posts which was converted to give them a 6-0 lead.

Ravens responded with a great try minutes later as pressure on Sherwood’s line proved fruitful with new captain Liam Dunne leading by example to burst though out wide.




Sherwood’s response to this was to kick the ball dead from the kick-off, meaning Ravens had to drop out from under the posts which was returned by Sherwood with their second try.

Ravens rallied again with another try by Dunne after a long looping pass from Richard Whitehouse put Dunne into space to sprint 20 metres to score, converted by Dave Wimbury.


Sherwood then scored three tries, but Ravens stayed in contention as Lee Knight scored after a useful kick into the corner by Dave Swaysland on the last tackle which Knight scooped up before going over in the corner.

Just moments before half time, Knight took a knock to the head in a tackle which meant he could take no further part in the game.

Ravens were down to 12 men in the minutes leading up to half time and, with Sherwood leading 34-14, things looked bleak for the hosts.

However, Ravens drew first blood in the second half as that man Dunne scored his hat-trick try, converted by Wimbury.

Sherwood then scored two tries – the first fortuitous as Sherwood’s number four fumbled a loose pass which, if Ravens had caught, would have been a certain try at the other end.

Sherwood’s four hoofed the ball downfield and Whitehouse and Alex Paynter chased back. It looked as though Whitehouse may have wrapped his man up short of the line but the referee deemed otherwise and, instead of trailing by eight points, Ravens were 18 adrift.

Ravens kept their heads up though and on the hour they scored a fine try completed by Paynter after excellent work from Dunne and Jason Spafford. Wimbury converted.

Sherwood then scored two more tries to open a 26-point lead, but Dunne still had time to score his fourth try before the score of the game arrived through Paynter after excellent passing with Spafford.

Podcasts

Now, every week, you can also listen to a roundup of Redditch Standard Local News.

Advertising

Advertise with the Redditch Standard to reach your audience

Online Editions

Catch up on your local news by reading our e-editions on the Redditch Standard.

Public Notices

View and download all of the public notices in the Redditch Standard.