Swaffham ease to cup win

27 January 2010

Lakenham 0, Swaffham 44

On a misty day at Hilltops, Swaffham Rugby Club's first team ran out easy winners in the Norfolk Junior Cup quarter-final, against league rivals Lakenham.

It wasn't however as one-sided as the score suggests, as Swaffham often got the rub of the green as Lakenham made a string of errors trying to chase the game.

Swaffham were 10-0 up in as many minutes after Ross kicked a penalty and then converted Lines' fine try in the corner.

Using dummy runners to his advantage, he cut through the defence and sprinted 30 yards to the line. Soon after, it was the forwards who set up a driving maul from which Harris emerged to score.

Lakenham were not going to give in and for the next 10 minutes set up camp in the Swaffham half and launched attack after attack, only to be held out by some ferocious tackling by the back row.

Once out of their own half, the pace and excellent handling among the forwards gave Smith an opportunity to sprint for the line unopposed, and another successful conversion from Ross made it 20-0.

In the second half Lakenham set up several attacking moves, but constantly stalked by Harry Coe, their moves kept breaking down as he pounced on every loose pass.

The pressure eventually told and Swaffham ran in two tries in as many minutes when first French, and then Callaby, crashed through a wilting defence to push the score past 30. The final two tries were scored as the hosts' legs turned to jelly and the final blow was dealt as Impey saw a gap and glided through to score under the posts.

By far the best try of the game was saved until the last, and after some impressive rucking work by Swaffham in their own half, the hosts' defence parted like a navy flotilla as a sublime move in the three-quarters set Owens away down the wing to score in the corner.

Swaffham now play the semi-final on April 17, but as yet their opponents are unknown.

On this form it may not matter, as they now have an eight-week undefeated run under their belts and confidence is high.