Calne seconds were beaten by their first team opposition which gave an impression of a one sided game but it was far closer competition than the scoreline suggests.

Due to a late disqualification of the first teams cup opponents who beat them in the last round the first team boys got another outing in the fifth round away to Newbury stags which in turn led to the league fixture with pewsey vale being postponed to another day. To help each other out for a fixture the second team duly offered their challenge against pewsey in a friendly.

On a particularly chilly winter’s day the game started with pewsey kicking off against their hosts with the sun to their backs and it soon became apparent of what both teams’ strengths were as the Calne forward pack had pewsey on the back foot in the scrum with the formidable Chris Austin, Jason Dolman and Dave Holmes making a nuisance of themselves with the powerhouses Matt Morton and Ewan Kinghorn driving on to disrupt the pewsey put ins whilst safely securing theirs. This was also true for the line outs also as ball was secured well with the key jumpers Jim Morton and Ben Grey competing in the air which was complemented with the excellent service from the dependable Tristan Williams at scrum half who unfortunately had to leave at half time much to the dismay of the home side support.

The pewsey game plan was of opposites to Calne as at every opportunity they chose to spin the ball wide to their contingent of 3 Fijians whose pace and fitness was clear to see as they ran in 6 of their sides 7 tries of the day, the first coming from a kick from Calne down the throat of the Fijian full back who waltzed his way 60 yards to the Calne try line. This theme was continued throughout the half as Calne either caught out by some quick counterattacking or even worse kicking the ball away to these danger men found themselves 17-0 down at half time despite spending a good deal of time in the opposition half and at one stage having had 2 put ins on the pewsey 5 metre line.

The same pattern continued into the second half with the pewsey back line proving its superiority over the home teams in attack and defense with the home side forwards making good ground only to be pegged back with a loss of possession or good tacking stunting the usually fluid Calne three quarters. A further 4 tries were conceded in the backs to make the final score 43-0 to the pewsey side with 14 points coming in the last five minutes as the home side hearts and legs gave way in the settling dusk.

Some good can be taken from the game however as the 2’s in general and forwards particularly battled well up front and won their ball well with some steals with only their inexperience playing together telling as stringing together some supported runs, mauls or crash balls was a rare sight. Overall though it was a good tough game with some lessons learnt as the second team can take heart in the fact that in some stages of the game they had their first team opposition on the ropes.

Final Score. Calne 0 Pewsey Vale 43

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