Sat 25 Jan 2020, 14:00
Greyhounds 0 Redditch 14
After last weeks lacklustre display in Shropshire Redditch knew that a repeat performance in deepest Herefordshire would undermine their promotion campaign, they did not disappoint. Injuries meant a few changes in personnel but it was the bulk of last weeks side that travelled to Greyhounds and took the points.
They started well, dominating the opening exchanges keeping the home side penned back, space was hard to come by but territory was key, the longer Greyhounds could be held in their own half the better the chance of exploiting it. Tom Saddington in the backs and Jack Bacciocchi in the forwards had some big plays, the confidence these instilled was plain to see, Redditch felt as if it was only a matter of time till the scored, and that was the case.
Midway through the half the opportunity arrived from a lineout that was won cleanly and from the ensuing drive Stuart Brooks was able to break from the melee, slipping a couple of tacklers he stretched out to score with men on his back. Will Spires added the extra points and although Greyhounds fought back the Kingfishers defence stood solid and rebuffed all attempts.
Second half was pretty much the same scenario, the visitors dominated the scrums, created more opportunities and looked the better side. The deserved second try came from the ever dancing feet of Will Baillon, having looked threatening all afternoon he eventually managed to evade the tacklers to score, again Will Spires converted the try.
The final quarter turned out to be a little trickier than planned, Jack Bacciocchi was shown a yellow card for a clumsy tackle so they had to up their defencive game that little bit more to fend off an eager, but eventually pointless, home side. During this spell Clarke Parker in particular tackled relentlessly, a tremendous performance.
Man of the Match went to Leo Fanthome making his debut on the wing, solid tackles and determined running from the debutant, and a golden voice when serenading his team mates in the changing room.
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