Swaffham 15 Gt Yarmouth-Broadland 17
Swaffham relinquished their unbeaten home run in front of a well fed group of VPs and guests, against a big strong outfit in the mist and mud of Nth Pickenham Road. The Christmas lunch began proceedings, and with the current situation meaning several of our regulars were absent, a smaller than usual crowd gathered to enjoy an excellent meal, once again provided by Tania and her helpers.
Swaffham began well, and at first it looked like this wasn’t going to be the tough game we were expecting, but once the visitors had accustomed themselves to the pitch and the conditions, it became a hard fought game with few easy gains. Swaffham scored first, after a neat chip through by Ed was pounced on by Lewis in the corner, but once the GBYRFC team had worked out our strengths they brought their own power into the game and their bigger and heavier pack started to dominate. GBYRFC picked up a try after a series of bursts through the middle, and then a fortunate charge down resulted in another unconverted try to end the half 10-5 to the visitors.
Swaffham began the second half brightly and were making ground wide out, but some weak tackling in their opponents half allowed a break through the centre and GBYRFC scored near the posts to take a 12 point lead. Swaffham lost a player through a yellow card and at this point it looked ominous as the Broadland pack started to impose themselves on the game. However, they seemed to tire for a while and Swaffham were awarded several penalties as players went off their feet too easily. When the pattern continued, and eventually the ref decided to yellow card a visiting player, Ed Jones slotted 3 points to bring the score to 8-17 and a comeback looked possible. The Swaffham forwards continued to take the game back to their opponents, and another series of penalties close to the line resulted in a penalty try, and another GBYRFC player went to the bin! Playing against 13 men for a while and trailing 15-17 it looked likely that Swaffham could snatch the game back but some dogged defending and clever use of territory saw GBYRFC hold on for a deserved win.
PHOTOS at Seniors Gallery – Swaffham RUFC (swaffhamrugby.co.uk)
