14 man Gannets dig in to go 2 and 0

Your favourite social rugby team made the short trip up the road to Vigo,buoyed by last weeks win but mindful of the task that lay ahead.As their website states,Vigo is a small club with a big heart this indeed proved to be the case today.

A few changes were made to the squad from last week,most notably being the absence of Jetski due to work commitments,enabling Steve Wootton to slot into his favoured inside centre berth.Welshy made his seasons debut on the flank whilst Paddy was off sunning his beard in Beefa and there were debuts for youngsters Brendan and Ryan at hooker and right wing respectively.

Ben started the game with a deep kick to the touch line where the Vigo player was met with a thud by the on rushing Rich Snape,clearly trying to kayo his second player in as many games.What then followed was a sequence of dropped balls and knock ons by the Gees as the weather played havoc with their normally safe hands (no,really!)
Vigo weren't making much headway with the forwards with Percy and Richard 'the Punjabi Prince' Mayhew putting in some big tackles.Not much was doing in the backs either as they frequently kicked long for their speedy left winger to chase.

A penalty in front of the posts gave visitors their first chance of points which Ben easily took for the 0-3 advantage.

The resulting kickoff was fumbled by the Gees and Vigo responded by bearing down on the line where it was stripped by Matt Clarke.Taking the ball out unchallenged,running the length of the field was clearly not an option,especially not at his age,so he kicked.And it was the crappest kick ever.However it bounced straight into the arms of Ben who took off downfield.A pass inside to Steve Wootton who then in turn found Oliver Karabardak for the most unlikely of scores.0-8.

The Gannets had their tails up now and we're keeping Vigo pinned back in their own half,bar the odd kick downfield.
Rich Snape then went on a burst and chipped the ball over the entire Vigo pack,gathered the ball and raced in under the posts.Absolutely ridiculous for a second row to be doing that sort of thing if you ask me.Ben added the extras for a 0-15 halftime lead.

Unfortunately the Gees lost Rich Snape to a rib injury to be replaced by Chippy and Archie gave Sam a breather for the start of the second half.

If the Gees thought they had the game in the bag then they were proved wrong in the second half as Vigo came out all guns blazing.Some clever running and kicking by their 10 had the Gees pinned back and was no surprise when they crossed the line 10 minutes into the half to reduce the arrears to 7-15.

More injuries hit the Gees shortly after as Mitch left the field with a back injury apparently substained slipping over on a wet floor at work.I would've blamed the rugby myself but anyway it meant uncontested scrums and no one likes to see that.Chippy was next to depart with a knee injury leaving the Gannets down to 14 for the last 20 minutes.This seemed to galvanise the Gees who dug deep and upper their work rate to leave Vigo on the back foot for the remainder of the game.

5 minutes from time,Ben called 'a play'.Normally this means we lose the line out/scrum/someone drops the ball etc,but waddya know,a perfect inside pass to Matt Clarke just outside the 22 resulted in bizarre John Cleese style,goose stepping run around a few defenders and touching down next to the sticks.7-22.

The ref blew time...and then it stopped raining.Marvellous.

A tough game played in challenging conditions which seems to be the norm when we travel to Vigo.They're a tough,well organised side and credit to the Gannets for staying strong in defence,especially in second half,to weather the storm and get the win.

Special mentions this week for Brendan who done a sterling job at hooker against some 'wily veterans' (cliche) also Ryan who kept his discipline against a second half aerial bombardment targeted at him and Ollie who dealt with his hefty opposite number handily.
Also Martin Taylor.For what,I don't know but he said to mention him.so I am.

Man of the match as voted by Vigo was Matt Clarke.Presumably the result of a few too many bangs to the head but what the heck.

Until next time,you muddy funsters....