CRANLEIGH 1st XV vs. GUILDFORDIANS

TEAM: 1 Titch Macey 2 Nick Sutton 3 Phil Moore 4 Milo Livesy 5 Graham Benton 6 Josh Barraud 7 George Disley 8 Will Davies (VC) 9 Harry Crabtree 10 Zak Hebron 11 Geoff Noonan 12 Pierre Goodwin 13 Phil Dandy 14 Raffie MC 15 Ryan Corrigan 16 Liam Kennedy 17 Christian Morris 18 Ben Van Rensburg 19Jamie White 20 James Kashel

The game was played at Wildwood Lane in fog and the extreme cold seemed to affect both sides for the first 20 minutes. Neither side was able to put any patterns of play together and it could only be described as sloppy. Thankfully though, Ryan Corrigan woke up Cranleigh with a delightful kick ahead which Zak Hebron collected and scored way out. The referee, keen on offside offences caught Cranleigh again after 20 minutes in a central position which was duly converted by Guildfordians. 

Gulidfordians were dominant in the scrums which left Cranleigh without opportunities for long periods. Cranleigh backs started to put in some good moves and they were awarded with a play out wide and a superb pass by Nick  Sutton to Phil Dandy to score. Phil then followed this up 12 minutes later by a weaving run from inside the Cranleigh half outpacing the Guildfordian defence and scoring under the posts. Half-time score: 17-3. 

The second half was even in possession for both sides except for a sustained period of attack by Guildfordians on the Cranleigh 22. 

The Cranleigh defence, it must be said, was terrific and kept Guilfordians out for over 12 minutes. The side got refreshed at various times during the half with all the substitutes, it had the effect of Cranleigh dominating the play in the rest of the second half. It was rewarded with a decent drive and score 10 minutes from the end by Will Davies.  Full-time score: 22-3.

Overall Cranleigh was the better all-round side and as in every game this season the effort was first-class. A good springboard for next week’s away game at Haslemere. It was good to see Phil Moore back in the front row with his charges up the middle and the ageless Christian Morris running around and tackling better than ever. 

The side was in good spirits after the game and went off to celebrate in Guildford in their Christmas jumpers.

Report John Bailey