Guildford 22 vs Old Reigatians 26, 31 August 2024

Guildford entertained Old Reigatians at Broadwater in their final pre-season warm up game prior to the first game of the season away to Andover on 7th September.

Guildford had previously travelled to Sutton & Epsom with a squad of 29 players and put in a strong performance.  The fixture against Old Reigatians was a chance for the players to build on that and put all the hard work done in training over the last 8 weeks into practice.  The format of the day was for 3 x 30 minutes sessions to enable both sides to rotate players and assess new players and partnerships prior to the start of the fast approaching league season.

Under the watchful eye of new Head Coach Joe Garner, the 29 man squad containing several new faces, a strong Colts contingent, two new Kiwis and some ever present stalwarts lined up for the first third.  Guildford started the proceedings with real enthusiasm and intent and it took only 8 minutes before Finn Barrowcliffe crossed the line for the first score of the day.

The scrum was looking solid in this first period and the lineout was functioning better than the last outing at Sutton, which the coaches will have been pleased by.  As a result of this strong platform, Alex Jordan went over on the 13 minute mark for his first try and took the lead to 10-0.

The game settled down as both teams tried to get accustomed to their patterns for the new season and OR’s came back with a well worked converted try to take the score to 10-7.  The period was closed out with a converted try from speedster Lochy Ellis-Jones.  Score 17-7.

The second third saw many changes by both sides positionally and in personnel.  This session was evenly balanced with only an unconverted try by Alex Jordan separating the teams at the whistle.  Score 22-7

The final third provided the most excitement of the day.  Again, more changes made by the caching team as was expected.  Guildford introduced several new players who look like they will be good additions to the team, however, it will take a little time to bed in and get to know processes and teammates.  This was evident at one 5m defensive lineout where ORs were able to take advantage of a communication breakdown and stroll over for a try.  That is something that can be easily resolved on the training pitch

There were times in this final period where Guildford played some good rugby, broke the gain line, but just tried to force the pass when it wasn’t there.  The fundamentals are strong across the squad, just some fine tuning needed.

It would be fair to say that ORs had the better of Guildford in the final session and ran in 3 tries two of which were converted to take the final score to 22-26.

Overall, it was a good outing for the squad. There are always things to work on and I am certain that the coaching team will begin that fine tuning work on Tuesday evening in their final preparation for the start of the season.

Mike Burden

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