second half rally not enough for Gannets

'Twas the super Gannets first home game of the season and optimism was in the air on the back of two straight wins.Up against them were a TJ side that had just come down from the division above and were sure to provide a stern test,as they always do.

As is de rigueur with the Gannets,changes were afoot with Ian 'Francesca' Shuttlewood making his first start of the season at 10,nice Welshman Steve Wootton moving to the right wing and Angry Welshman Gareth Williams,complete with pacemaker (defibs in the car,lads) coming in at fullback for his first game in donkeys.

Playing into the bright,low sunshine on the big boys pitch,the Gannets made a promising start and were camped inside the opposition 22 for the first 10 minutes or so before a well executed kick downfield from the TJ 10 was allowed to bounce.Predictably,it went fell straight to their speedy winger who made no mistake.

Again the Gannets piled forward with some strong runs from the forwards being repelled by good tackling from a well drilled TJ pack.Eventually the ball found its way down the line to said speedy winger who put some moves on winger and fullback to touch down under the sticks for 0-12.

The Gees fought back with a team try that was started and finished by James Kurszewski.A mazy run across and down field resulted in an inside pass to Martin Welsh who in turn passed to Matt Clarke.Who fell over.He managed to recycle the ball however with it eventually finding its way back to Jetski to reduce the defecit to 7-12 with Bens conversion.

The early warning signs were not heeded by the home side and with the TJ backs getting no change out of their opposite numbers,the 10 spotted a huge gap in the backfield.His kick was spot on and you know who cantered in,untouched to score.

The sun was clearly causing problems when it came to catching high balls as several more were rained in on the home defence but the TJ's last try of the half was scored under totally different circumstances.A penalty advantage call from the ref seemed to momentarily hypnotise the Gannets defence enabling the portly TJ fullback to canter in for one of the easier tries he's scored in his long career.

Half time 7-24.

Changes were afoot for the start of the second half with Mitch,Brendan and Matt 'the predator' Abbott all coming on.It wasn't long before the home side returned the high ball favour to TJ with Ian Shuttlewood launching one downfield.In an almost carbon copy of the first half,they allowed it to bounce and Jetski took the catch for his second of the game and fourth of the season.

By now the Gees tails were up and this was especially evident when Richard 'Bombay bad boy' Mayhew saw fit to actually catch the ball from kickoff and run it back at the oppo without spilling it.The home team were now making steady progress towards the TJ line and after several raids from the backs were repelled,the ball found its way to Martin Archer to barge over the line.19-24.

After all that good work the momentum was lost when a couple of silly penalties allowed TJ's inside the 22 and their big pack did the rest with some excellent running,driving and recycling.19-31.

Back came the home side.Tough tackling in the backs meant there wasn't much doing there so it was upto the forwards to gain the hard yards.Marshalled by Ben with lively running from Brendan and typical bullocking runs from Percy,it was Steve Wootton who eventually unlocked the away defence with a jinking,spinning run around 3 TJ backs to score.

Time however,wasn't on the Gees side and after losing Ian Shuttlewood to a suspected broken finger nail,a late penalty put the seal on it for a final score of 24-34.

Obviously gutted with their first defeat of the season but plenty of good things can be taken from the game,especially the never say die attitude.The Gannets never gave up and always felt they were in with a shout of winning and indeed with greater concentration in the first 20 minutes or so,they might have done.

Full credit though to TJ who ran hard,tackled hard,came with a game plan and executed it to perfection,especially in the first half.

Until next time...