It’s not quite wet enough for UCS Old Boys in defeat against Chiswick
Damir Jovanovic. Pic: Nick Cook/UCS Old Boys - Credit: Archant
UCS Old Boys’ two-match winning run came to an end as a lack of recent action and match fitness resulted in a 48-0 defeat against third-placed Chiswick.
The Old Boys had not played for two weeks due to the weather and, although they were due to be at home on Saturday, the pitch was waterlogged so the game was moved to Chiswick’s playing fields.
The hosts were convincing winners in the end and UCS head coach Carl Bradshaw admitted that his rusty players could have done with trickier conditions to level the playing field.
“It wasn’t quite as wet and windy as we needed it to be to stifle Chiswick’s slick and pacy back line,” he said.
The score-line does not tell the whole story of the game, though, and while Chiswick ran in two early tries, the Old Boys then stepped up their game, enjoying the lion’s share of territory and possession.
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Bosnian international Damir Jovanovic led the fightback with big carries from the base of the scrum and effective turnover tackles, while skipper James Boyde, Dave Myers and Ahmed Ghanem all made yards around the ruck and fed the hard-running centres Dan Sleath and Dom Rollo-Walker.
Yet when it came to the crucial attacks near the try-line, UCS were one-dimensional and often wasted overlaps or mismatches, allowing Chiswick to relieve the pressure.
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UCS also defended well, with strong tackling from Jovanovic, Phil Trotter and Dave O’Dwyer, but Chiswick eventually got their fourth try – and a bonus point – before running in 21 points in the final 10 minutes.
Bradshaw added: “We created enough opportunities in the red zone to have made a game of it, and it’s disappointing that we didn’t converted that pressure, and to have collapsed in the way that we did.”
UCS travel to face St Albans this weekend.
UCS Old Boys: Ghanem, Alcock,Myers, Noonan, Boyde, Dillon, Trotter, Jovanovic, Boulden, Walton, McCaviney, O’Dwyer, Lowe A, Lowe E, Sleath, Rollo-Walker, Loughnan
