Taunton Warriors V Oldfield Old Boys

Taunton Warriors 24 Oldfield Old Boys 3

They say that history does not repeat itself but in the case of Oldfield v Taunton it has.  With just 4 minutes to go a break from a rolling maul and Taunton touch down for a try in exactly the same place and same time as a year before but the try was again disallowed as last year. This would have been the fourth try bonus point.  The referee had already awarded the Warriors a penalty from the driving maul when Brad Harding broke off and scored a try, however, on speaking to the referee afterwards he felt that he had blown his whistle momentary before Brad scored considering there was no advantage.  From that penalty he awarded a yellow card to an Oldfield player and Taunton kicked into touch again, won the lineout and rolled the maul sideways and forward for Wayne Sprangle to go in under the posts.  The fourth try was awarded and the Warriors had their bonus point win.

This was not the usual flowing, fast-paced game from the Warriors although they had over 70% of the possession, if we average it out through the game there was a penalty awarded in just under every two minutes of the game with Oldfield conceding 27 and the Warriors 15.  Many of these were for scrum infringements where the Warrior’s were completely dominant pushing Oldfield back at a rate of Knotts.  This dominance should have resulted in a big score but on the halftime whistle the Warriors only had a5-point lead which came from and interception by Luke Bralsford who had sufficient pace to speed over for the try.  Whilst after the break Oldfield did have some good possession, the Warriors defence held solid. It took eighteen minutes of the second half before Luke Bralsford crashed over from the Warriors maul to extend the lead to twelve points.  Just two minutes later the Warriors gave away a penalty which Oldfield converted to give them three points on the board.  Almost from the re-start Oldfield pressed but they had not allowed for the awareness of the Warriors centre Jeremy Tuima who intercepted their pass and completely outpaced the Oldfield chasers to score the try which Josh Guest converted.  This 16-point cushion could have been added too but penalties were awarded as opposed to the advantage being played which must not be construed as a criticism.  The Warriors stuck to their task and the fourth and bonus point try came just before the final whistle.

The team and Taunton gave a very warm welcome to Jeremy Tuima playing in the centre and another player that I have to write down is Koupanguo Kauejao playing in the back row, Both showing tremendous potential and pace.  Sol Moody was back playing in the centre instead of the backrow but showed his ability as a ball player in whatever position.  It was a hard-fought game under very wet and difficult conditions which the team adapted too and got a thoroughly deserved 5 league points win.

The next game is against Chew Valley 2^nd XV, at home, who have also won all of their games and sit just 1 point behind the Warriors in the league.  This coincides with the Chinnor game, however the Warriors will kick off at 2.30pm and the Titans at 3pm so why not come down early and give the players of the future, as well as some oldies, your rousing support to keep them on top of the league.

‍