Guildford Rugby Club
Match report. Andover v Guildford 7 September 2024
Strong performance from blend of old and new players bodes well for the season ahead
Team: 1 Paddy Wood* 2 Jacob Jones 3 Luke Brookes 4 Jamie Curtis* 5 Matt Naeem* 6 Ed Pasfield 7 Ben Bushell 8 Jordan Brodley* 9 Ieuan Jones 10 Joe Gwyther 11 Tom Waddell 12 Tyler Pickford* 13 Zac Rodber 14 Charlie Gibbons* 15 Rob Voller (C)
Replacements: 16 Jon Karimian 17 Ravi Munasinghe 18 Will Sheere*
* First team debutant
The first game of the 24/25 season for the men’s 1st XV was at another new location for the players. Andover were promoted into our league which is the highest level they have played at in their history. I am not sure if the two clubs have ever met before at this level?
The Guildford team was showing seven first team debutants as there were 9 regular players unavailable for selection – most of them (including the groom of course!) attending second row Alex Foley Burrill’s wedding in the Lake District. Congratulations Foley!!
It was also Zac Rodber’s last game for the club as he departs this week for a new life in Australia. Zac has been at the club since he was 5 years old and played with distinction for the 1st XV for the last couple of seasons as well as representing Mauritius in sevens. Safe travels Zac, you will be missed!
Andover started the game playing down the slight slope. The kick was a bit too strong and went out over the dead ball line. The resulting scrum on halfway gave an early insight into how the rest of the game would unfold. Andover had a large pack and looked to play a simple game. Dominate at scrum time, win a penalty and kick for position or take a shot at goal.
The Andover scrum was very dominant, but even though Guildford lost the ball on their own put in, Andover couldn’t control it at the back of the scrum and Guildford won the ball back on several occasions.
It was fair to say that Guildford played the better rugby when they had the ball, Joe Gwyther (who was voted Man of the Match by Andover) controlling proceedings well from 10 enabling the Guildford backs to create holes in the Andover defence.
From a break in the middle of the field Guildford worked their way into the Andover 22 through some short sharp passing to the supporting players and the pace was too much for the big Andover forwards who were several yards behind play. After several short drives close to the try line Jordan Brodley crashed over close to the posts for his first try for the club after 15 minutes. Ieuan Jones added the conversion to take the score to 0-7.
Five minutes later and Guildford were on the scoreboard again. Space was created on the outside for Rob Voller who held off the defender to go over in the corner. The conversion from the touchline was good from Ieuan Jones and the score moved on to 0-14
Andover started to find a bit of a rhythm and with their dominance up front the referee was always going to decide in their favour at the breakdown. From a penalty just inside the Guildford half the ball was kicked deep into the 22 for an attacking lineout. Guildford did well to hold the initial drive, but after successive drives Andover crashed over to open their scoring. The conversion was good, and the score moved on to 7-14 with 26 minutes played.
The game maintained its ebb and flow for the remainder of the half with Guildford trying to set their backs loose, but not quite able to quite mange it. Several good probing kicks from Zac Rodber and Joe Gwyther pushed the defence back and a couple of chances were missed when perhaps the wrong option was taken, but that is easy to say in hindsight.
After 35 minutes Guildford conceded another penalty at the breakdown and the Andover 10 stepped up to convert and move the score to 10-14. That is how things remained at half time and all things considered it was a solid performance from a new look Guildford side who were very much up against it in the pack, yet still managed to score two tries with little possession.
HT: 7-14
The second half saw a change of personnel in the front row with Luke Brookes, who put in a good shift under difficult conditions, being replaced by Jon Karimian. The coaches also decided to ask the second rows to swap sides to give the scrum a bit more balance. The consequence of these changes was that the scrum improved, the lads were still under pressure, but they managed to stay straight and control the drive better so didn't concede as many penalties or lose as many against the head.
Six minutes into the second half the Andover fly half landed his second penalty of the day from 30 yards to take the score onto 13-14.
Guildford kept pressing, the backs created a couple of good chances that if they had gone to hand would have been certain tries, but that was the theme of the day, we just couldn’t get that rub of the green and get over the tryline. In one promising attack down the right wing Rob Voller was tackled into touch less than 5m from the line.
For a big part of the half neither side was able to dominate enough to add to their scores. Guildford made a couple more changes, Will Sheere coming on for his debut to replace another debutant, Tyler Pickford and Ravi Munasinghe coming on to replace the injured Ed Pasfield.
All the excitement was reserved for the final 15 minutes.
Another Andover penalty took the score to 16-14, Ieuan Jones then slotted a penalty from just inside the 22 so Guildford nosed ahead 16 – 17. A rather reckless tackle from Will Sheere was judged by the referee to be worthy of a yellow card so Guildford had to play out the final 5 minutes with 14 men. Shortly after another penalty at the breakdown gave Andover the opportunity to inch ahead 19 – 17 which is how it stayed until the final whistle.
It was a very frustrating outing for the lads to lose a game that could have gone the other way given the rub of the green. Even though Guildford struggled up front against a much bigger pack at times the backs and forwards combined to create some good opportunities, but it wasn't to be our day. However, we did manage to score more tries than Andover.
The players gave their all and it bodes well for the season that there is now a depth to the squad that will be needed over the long season ahead.
Next week Guildford take on local rivals Farnham and will be looking to get back to winning ways. Kick off is at 1500 and will be proceeded by a Presidents lunch which can be booked on the website at this link: Book here for the President's Lunch, 14 September
Unfortunately, the Blues game against Battersea was postponed on Saturday and the Gazelles friendly against Portsmouth was also postponed. Both teams now open their account for the 24/25 season next week when the Blues are away at Sutton and Epsom 2’s on Saturday and the Gazelles play Hampstead at home, KO 1430.
Mike Burden
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