Cranleigh RFC vs Met Police Match Report

Saturday saw the return of competitive contact rugby down at Wildwood Lane for the first time since February 2020, with a fixture against Met Police RFC. We were all really excited to get back out onto familiar territory and start to once more get that feeling of returning to normality.

With the usual morning drop outs, we had started the day with 25 players available for the fixture and that number slowly dropped to 19. However, this still meant that we were able to play the agreed format of 15-a-side for the first time this season. From the warm-up it was clear to see that the weather was not as pleasant as last weeks with the rain hammering down, (although it did give the pitches a much-needed watering!)

From the early exchanges in the first quarter, Cranleigh dominated possession with the ball retention and the speed of ball from the ruck being a real problem for the Met Police team. A loose kick from the Met Police full back gifted the ball to Charlie Treasure in the back field, who ran the ball back and beat five defenders before racing in to dot down under the posts for the game’s opening score. The momentum didn’t stop after that with dominant carries from Theo Gloyens, Matt Dandy and Jake Tetley allowed us to retain possession and continue to move the ball around the park quickly. From a tap penalty taken by Max Crushiel, who provided energy and tempo from scrum half, passed it to Phil Moore who carried into contact and gave a perfectly timed offload to Nick Hendy who powered over the line from close range.

Ill-discipline began creeping in, which gifted possession to Met Police who were able to go through the phases themselves and applied pressure in our own half. Our defence held firm against their aggressive carries for the most of the second quarter, but they eventually scored in the corner from a well worked play from just inside the 22. Frustration began creeping in to our play and the penalty count started to go against us as a result. Met Police continued to pile pressure in attack with their abrasive carries through the middle and good offloading allowed them to gain valuable metres in attack. The second quarter finished with the score being 2-1.

From the beginning of the third quarter, the tempo was immediately raised with the emphasis being around moving the ball two passes away from the ruck to continue to move the ball into space. Another loose kick into the back field allowed Charlie Treasure another opportunity to run the ball back. In almost a carbon copy of his previous try, he sprinted past five would be tacklers to dot down under the posts again. The momentum began swinging back in our favour with our attack causing them some real problems in defence. After some phases of moving the ball into the best space, the space opened up in the middle for Greg Cushing to break through and dot down under the posts. After some more sustained pressure from their attack and a last ditch try saving tackle from Tom Cartner and Harry Crabtree kept them out of reach for a bit longer. We finished the third quarter four tries to one up.

In the final quarter, both teams gave everything they had left in a very entertaining encounter. Met Police started to move the ball around with conviction, exhausting the wider channels. They were eventually rewarded for their intelligent play when their full back broke through and drew the last defender to pass to the scrum half who finished well underneath the posts for a great try. In one of the final plays of the quarter after some sustained attack from Cranleigh, a penalty was awarded 5-metres out from the try line which was taken quickly by Max Crushiel who passed to Matt Dandy who crashed over for the final score of the game to make the final score 42-21.

We’d like to thank Met Police RFC for a great game of rugby that was hotly contested throughout the match with all players playing in the true spirit of the game and giving our guys another great test. MVP of the game was the very impressive Matt Dandy who returned from university where he led the line out brilliantly and made important tackles to raise the energy levels of the group.

Our final match of the season is against Weybridge Vandals on Friday 21st May under the lights at Wildwood Lane. It will be a great evening for rugby against some really tough opposition and a great way to finish off the season.