Reeds edge out Mere in High Scoring 'Thriller'

Truly the gods had conspired to make Haslemere rue the day they went to Whiteley Village!

Haslemere had the ball from a maul on the half way and fly half Adam Whitehead chipped ahead into space, but the Reeds winger eluded the tackles of centre Jonjo Conway and Fred Ruffe before then chipping ahead into the middle of the park short of the try line. The ball went loose and was hacked on by winger Callum Sloan only for Reeds to pass the ball down the line to their winger who drew full back Callum Sherwood before passing to his support and scoring, 0-5.

Flanker Sam Powell won the restart and Haslemere were on the front foot with scrum half Neil Moseley passing the ball out down to Dan Green to have a run. The loose pass found Callum Sherwood who kicked the ball in behind the defense who was soundly put to ground by Jonjo. Reed won the ruck and cleared their lines. Unfortunately Haslemere failed to follow the kick back with any haste and so when the ball took a wicked bounce back towards the Reeds players they had too few defenders to keep the Reeds flying winger from running around them and scoring under the posts, 0-12 after less than 10 minutes, and James Clarke went off with an ankle injury, and on came Elliot Robson.

A poor restart kick gave Reeds the scrum on the half way. Despite pushing uphill the Haslemere scrum was solid with a front row of Zorro Hawkes, Ryan Perrott, and Alan Wiley. Reeds won the ball under pressure but cleared it from the next ruck down the narrow blind side which had not been covered with enough alacrity and Reeds were able to get in behind the defense and then their right winger again cut an angle at pace to score under the posts, 0-19.

Another poor restart saw Reeds with a scrum on the half way but Haslemere won the ball back and Captain James Blatherwick pounded up the middle for some yards that led to Reeds being penalized and Haslemere kicked themselves out of their half. Reeds won the Haslemere line out and kicked right back down into the Haslemere half. A loose clearance kick from the next play after the scrum saw the Reeds forwards drive the ball up the middle to score, 0-26.

Haslemere reclaimed the ball from the line out after a good restart and Dan Green powered up into the Reeds half, but Neil Moseley injured his knee to be replaced by JP McCumisky. Haslemere reshuffled Callum Sherwood to scrum half and Jonjo dropped to full back. Despite Haslemere winning possession a poor pass gave Reeds the ball back and they got right back ino=to the Haslemere half. Again Haslemere made the mistake when trying to kick out of their 22 with a Reeds charge down that was fated to rest inviting over the Haslemere try line for another Reeds score, 0-31 after Reeds missed the easy conversion after just 23 minutes.

Haslemere started to play some good rugby after Whitehead scooped up a loose pass to make ground, then no8 Damian Kellerman charged on, with Reeds clearedout by Robson, before Perrott stepped the cover and bulldozed over the line only to be held up. In the passage of play Fred Ruffe was injured when knocked down in what seemed an innocuous challenge, but one which jarred hisneck and left him dazed and flat out. With full precautions the Haslemere physio from Physio 1to1 stablised Fred for the ambulance, and the match was moved to an adjoining pitch after a 10 minute delay. Ben Davies now came on for Chris McGrory.

The bad hoodoo jinx that had been looming over the Haslemere players seemed to have disappeared when the match restarted and straight from the Haslemere scrum Kellerman picked up and went blind before being tackled metres short, but he was not held down and he refound his feet to surge forward to score. Whitehead slotted the kick over 7-31.

From the restart Haslemere soon got the ball back and the forwards drove the ball on up the field. A great tackle from winger Clarke, who had to come back on with Ruffe injured, led to Reeds being penalized and Dan Green took a quick tap and drove on before the ball went down the line out to winger Sloan to score in the corner, 12-31.

Haslemere had another chance in the first half to score when Callum Sherwood made a clean break when the ball came loosely out of the side of a Haslemere scrum on the half way, but a chip ahead for Jonjo only found the shins of the Reeds full back. Soon after Haslemere got the ball back and Kellerman surged on but from the maul Reeds came in from the side and disrupted the momentum and the half was over when Reeds won a penalty.

Haslemere started the second half like they finished the first half, playing on the front foot, breaking the Reeds line and scoring two tries in the opening 7 minutes to bring the match back into contention at 26-31, from having been 0-31 down. Haslemere won a penalty after Reeds went offside when they tried to clear from their 22. Haslemere opted to kick to the corner for the line out, which they then lost, but pressure form Robson saw the Reeds fly half cut inside only for Blatherwick to judo him to the ground. Zorro then snaffled the ball when it squirted out form the ruck and ran to within a meter of the line. The ball came out loosely from the Haslemere ruck for Green to pass out wide to Kellerman to score in the corner, with a tough conversion kicked by Whitehead, 19-31.

From the restart Reeds again tried to run the ball out of their half whereas Haslemere were cleverly chipping to the corner and trying to play in the Reeds 22. Again it was Kellerman carrying the ball from a scrum that galvanized the next passage of play with Green in a purple patch with clever chips coming off and rampaging runs setting up the next phase. Now only 10 metres out a pass from Sherwood hit the ground only for Whitehead to pick it up on the bounce at pace and cut through the Reeds defense to score under the posts, which he then converted, 26-31.

The Reeds backs had seen hardly anything of the ball in open space in the second half but in each their next two possessions they needed no second invitation to run the ball and their pace and goods hands inlocked the Mere defense and they score 2 quick tries on the bounce to put them up 26-41.
There was still at least 25 minutes to play and Haslemere scored next when Reeds gave away a penalty from a Clarke tackle when they went off their feet, and from the subsequent line out, a poor Reeds pass was claimed by Sherwood and he passed to centre McCumisky who cut through the Reeds defense to score, converted 33-41.

Unfortunately a couple of errors saw Reeds score again when Haslemere lost they ball again from their line out and then some poor tackling saw a big Reeds forward rumble straight through all the forwards to score near the posts, 33-48.

The last play of the match seemed to go on for 10 minutes as the rain started and the sunlight faded. Luckily there was enough time for Haslemere’s man-of-the-match Robson to cap his performance with a try from a quick tap penalty move and Whitehead to convert, 40-48 at the final whistle.

Hawkes, Perrott, Kiley, C McGrory, Green, S Powell, Clarke, Kellerman, N Moseley (Snr), Whitehead, F Ruffe, Blatherwick ©, Conway, Sloan, Sherwood. Subs B Davies, Robson, McCumisky.

Haslemere’s next league game is at home on the 5th April. Training continues up at Woolmer Hill GU27 1QA on Tuesday night at 7:30pm. Visit www.haslemererugby.co.uk or call coach John Hatcher on 07709 187514.