Marlborough triumph at Calne (From This Is Wiltshire)

Marlborough triumph at Calne

6:02pm Tuesday 18th November 2008

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Calne 12

Marlborough 41

Travelling does seem to suit the Marlborough side, as again, they triumphed on the road.

A cool and windy afternoon at Calne produced a match which was a closer contest than the final score line suggests.

Calne, very strong in the forwards and committed in the backs, have traditionally been a tough fixture for Marlborough and this Saturday past proved no different. Marlborough lost the toss and kicked off playing down the slope into the strong crosswind.

Early on the Calne pack laid down a marker in the scrum and Marlborough struggled with this phase throughout the match. Marlborough managed to clear their own scrum feeds – generally going backwards, but could not apply pressure on the Calne put in.

Despite being under pressure up front early, Marlborough moved the ball wide quickly from the breakdown and scored two early tries with man of the match - Lawrence Baker scoring when Calne mistimed their rush defence and Marlborough’s quick hands circumvented the blitz. Baker converted his own try and from the restart Marlborough again moved it wide and Jonny Mantle crashed over close to the posts for the second try.

Calne restarted and Marlborough attacked again with quick hands and some fine support, moving the ball through four phases and Gary Sharpe from the front row was devastating from five yards. Within fifteen minutes of the kick off Marlborough were 17 – 0 up and it started to look a long afternoon for Calne.

Marlborough started to play a little loose and their continuity suffered as the Marlborough team struggled to put together the phases and produce the quick ball that had made them so devastating early on. Despite this Marlborough’s Will Turner scored an unconverted try and as halftime loomed Marlborough were 22 – 0 up.

After the changeover Calne came out with all guns blazing and rumbled forward, capitalizing on Marlborough’s mistakes and re-cycling the ball through eight or nine phases close to the ruck to score close to the posts for their first converted try of the day. After the restart Calne stuck to the tactic that had brought them their first try and after a period of sustained pressure scored close to the touchline, but missed the kick. Marlborough was 22 - 12 up, but Calne had drawn to within 10 points and Marlborough was starting to creak.

Calne kicked poorly at the restart and Marlborough were able to get on the front foot, get some continuity and turn that pressure into points with Lawrence Baker scoring his second of the afternoon, but missing the conversion for the score to be 27 -12 to Marlborough.

With 10 minutes to go, Calne had their number six sin binned for foul play and faced with 14 players Marlborough got on top. In this period Marlborough romped away to score two tries with John Crowe and Dave Lemon dotting down to put Marlborough well ahead. Lawrence Baker kicked the extra points and the final score of Marlborough 41 – 12 Calne, was less respectable than it perhaps should have been.

Marlborough will take heart that despite periods in the game where they had switched off, they managed to change gear when under pressure and eke out another victory away. However the Calne team are not to be taken lightly by any team in this league.

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