Match Reports
Win moves Morley out of the bottom three
Wednesday 2nd November 2011
Morley 28 Penrith 14
A frantic second half saw Morley RFC bag a bonus point and see off the challenge of their visitors Penrith in an often fractious SSE National League Three North match.
Morley's indifferent start to the season saw then turn up at Scatcherd Lane to face a physical Cumbrian side lying one place and two pints above them in the table.The home side welcomed back big no.8 David Hopton making his first start since returning to the club, after recent appearances for Knottingley.
They were without their injured pair of full-backs Jack Moon and Scott Evans for the second game in a row, While prop Paul Gabriel pulled out with food poisoning on Saturday morning and Tom Hanson was ruled out after injuring a shoulder in the pre match warm up.
Morley's indifferent start to the season saw then turn up at Scatcherd Lane to face a physical Cumbrian side lying one place and two pints above them in the table.The home side welcomed back big no.8 David Hopton making his first start since returning to the club, after recent appearances for Knottingley.
They were without their injured pair of full-backs Jack Moon and Scott Evans for the second game in a row, While prop Paul Gabriel pulled out with food poisoning on Saturday morning and Tom Hanson was ruled out after injuring a shoulder in the pre match warm up.
Coming off the back of three straight defeats, the home side were quickest out of the blocks and opened the scoring after four minutes with a well worked try by winger Simon Bradshaw.
Good build up play from the forwards in the Penrith half, lead to a sweeping cross field kick, which Bradshaw caught on the bounce to go over in the corner. He then added the conversion from the touchline to give the Maroons an early lead.
Penrith responded with a good period of pressure in the Morley 22, with forwards from both sides put to work upfront. Both teams struggled with the ball in hand, with unforced error's blighting the home team's efforts on the break. Bradshaw was again involved in Morley's second try of the half, coming on 22 minutes following a darting run who was tackled on the half way line, good play through the faces moved the Maroons up to the Penrith 22, quick interpassing among the backs saw captain Chris Hall released, a delicate chip over the full back, a collect and gather saw him touch down between the posts. Bradshaw added the 2 points and Morley went into the interval 14-0 ahead.
After the break, a yellow card for Morley prop Alan Benn led to penrith piling on the pressure, and making good advantage of the extra man, by adding two scores within five minutes, and bringing the scores level by the hour mark. The first try came from more good play from the visitor's forwards setting a platform for No.10 Steve Wood to spread the ball out for winger Phil Fell to find the space he needed for the touch down.
Another Fell, this time Jonathan, scored Penrith's second try two minutes later after a good run down the left and into the corner. Steve Wood completing the come back by slotting over both conversions.Sloppy play characterised much of the game, as Morley struggled to come up with a reply, with kicks missing touch and several knock-ons from both sides.
A great break from Hopton put Morley deep into the Penrith half, a neat off load to following support, and a well placed grubber kick to the side line was easily collected by Charles Hough to enable him to out pace the covering defence and place the ball between the post for the Maroon's third try of the afternoon. Bradshaw again added the extras.
Morley wrapped up the victory and a bonus point for the fourth try at the very end, with another chip over the defence, this time it was collected by Ben Johnson and once again the try was underneath the posts, Bradshaw converted, the referee blew up for full time and Morley players and supporters jumped with joy.
Good build up play from the forwards in the Penrith half, lead to a sweeping cross field kick, which Bradshaw caught on the bounce to go over in the corner. He then added the conversion from the touchline to give the Maroons an early lead.
Penrith responded with a good period of pressure in the Morley 22, with forwards from both sides put to work upfront. Both teams struggled with the ball in hand, with unforced error's blighting the home team's efforts on the break. Bradshaw was again involved in Morley's second try of the half, coming on 22 minutes following a darting run who was tackled on the half way line, good play through the faces moved the Maroons up to the Penrith 22, quick interpassing among the backs saw captain Chris Hall released, a delicate chip over the full back, a collect and gather saw him touch down between the posts. Bradshaw added the 2 points and Morley went into the interval 14-0 ahead.
After the break, a yellow card for Morley prop Alan Benn led to penrith piling on the pressure, and making good advantage of the extra man, by adding two scores within five minutes, and bringing the scores level by the hour mark. The first try came from more good play from the visitor's forwards setting a platform for No.10 Steve Wood to spread the ball out for winger Phil Fell to find the space he needed for the touch down.
Another Fell, this time Jonathan, scored Penrith's second try two minutes later after a good run down the left and into the corner. Steve Wood completing the come back by slotting over both conversions.Sloppy play characterised much of the game, as Morley struggled to come up with a reply, with kicks missing touch and several knock-ons from both sides.
A great break from Hopton put Morley deep into the Penrith half, a neat off load to following support, and a well placed grubber kick to the side line was easily collected by Charles Hough to enable him to out pace the covering defence and place the ball between the post for the Maroon's third try of the afternoon. Bradshaw again added the extras.
Morley wrapped up the victory and a bonus point for the fourth try at the very end, with another chip over the defence, this time it was collected by Ben Johnson and once again the try was underneath the posts, Bradshaw converted, the referee blew up for full time and Morley players and supporters jumped with joy.