Round 6: Scorpions 47 – 40 Sharks
In a hugely entertaining, if somewhat scrappy affair, the Rock Scorpions and the Straits Sharks traded scores right to the end, with the Scorpions edging the victory by 47-40.
Peter Fowler carried hard from the kick off but the Scorpions early pressure led to nothing, and it was only a matter of minutes before play was back in their own 22. Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to control their own line out and a wayward pass was pounced on by Sharks prop, Jaime Moore, who crashed over for the first score. Robin Petrie stepped up to add the extras, which was to be the first of his many successful kicks over the course of the match. But it wasn’t long before the Scorpions were back in the game with Fowler again causing the damage with a crash ball off a line out, before off-loading to Adam Cook for the score. Keeping up the pressure on the Sharks, a penalty gave the Scorpions some good field position and from the breakdown, the ball was fed to Josh Fazziano who went over for the Scorpions second score, with Cook slotting the conversion.
As was the nature of this game, with neither side establishing superiority for any length of time, the Sharks regained control and hit back in quick succession with a couple of scores of their own. Nick Bigham, wrong footed the whole Scorpions defence with a wonderful side step and only had to canter under the posts to touch down and, with the next play it was Tommy Grimes who got his name on the scoreboard. Petrie converted them both and the Sharks were back in the lead 12-21. It was only five minutes, however, before the Scorpions returned the favour with a score of their own. Play was loose, and with the game was breaking up, the Scorpions were able to counter from their own line and, with some neat passing, the ball was worked to Wade Ignacio on the wing who cut back in to go between the posts for his try. Cook converted. With the Sharks numbers reduced due to injuries, the Scorpions eventually realised that they had a numerical advantage and started to spread the ball wide looking for the overlap. It wasn’t long in coming and some good handling opened up the space for Ryan Fox to go over for another try in the last minute of the first half. With Cook’s conversion they went into the break, with a half time lead of 26-21 and a four try bonus point already in the bag.
The second half started where the first left off, with the Scorpions again exploiting their numbers advantage when Cook broke out of defence and fed Ignacio who had the gas to beat the covering defence for another converted try. Rather than the flood gates opening, however, the Sharks tightened up their game and had a sustained period of territorial advantage. They managed to stretch the Scorpions defence, working a clear overlap but they made a real mess of the final pass, giving the hosts the opportunity to clear their lines. That should have been relatively straight forward but, trying to run the ball out of defence, the Scorpions made a similar ‘real mess’, and from the resultant scramble, Ben Chamberlain was quickest to the ball to bring the Sharks back to within 5 points. And, within five minutes, they’d recaptured the lead, with Martin Clifton taking advantage of a quick tap penalty to crash over from short range, with Petrie again adding the extras. The Scorpions had clearly lost a bit of focus and were being pinned back in their own half. Having conceded a number of penalties in their own 22, it was only a matter of time before their defence was breached again, with Grimes forcing his way over or, more accurately through, to grab his second score of the game.
As the match moved in to the final 10 minutes the Scorpions finally managed to break out of defence. Their first venture into Sharks territory for some time paid dividends, as they controlled a scrum put in, then fed their speed merchant, Cook, who put on the after burners to go under the posts, giving himself a straightforward conversion to level the score. And, just in case the watching crowd had missed it, the Scorpions replicated the play only minutes later with the same result, giving Cook his third try to go with his half dozen conversions. Try as they might, and with the clock against them, the Sharks couldn’t wrestle back possession and the Scorpions were able to celebrate their second bonus point win of the season, with the Sharks having to settle for two losing bonus points, as consolation.
u-mee Gibraltar Rugby Championship 