On another historic day, the Mob played Yorkshire Carnegie at the Emerald Headingley Stadium in the Green King IPA Championship.The Mob made a number of changes to the matchday squad and used the whole squad, with a six day turnaround before the A’s go to play Hartpury RFC under Friday Night Lights on 28th.
A scrappy affair in the first half where the A’s were pretty sloppy and loose when in possession and Yorkshire were disciplined and physical whilst playing with the elements and a strong wind behind them.
The Mob took the lead on six minutes after a loose kick was knocked on by a Carnegie player and Will Foster scooped up the ball and ran in from forty metres to give the A’s a 0 v 5 lead. Carnegie responded well and kicked a penalty to bring the scores to 3 v 5.
The A’s started to adjust to the conditions and Michael Van Vuuren scored by running a hard in to out line to crash over from a Fukofuka flat pass and Captain Grimoldby converted to extend the lead to 3 v 12.
A fluffed restart that the Mob knocked on and Carnegie took advantage and closed the scores to 10 v 12 after thirty-six minutes.
With the half coming to a close and the visitors on the front foot, a scrum on the Carnegie five metre line was awarded and after another mighty scrum, the Carnegie pack were shunted back again and the official had no option other than to award a penalty try and leave the A’s leading 10 v 19 at half-time.
Matt Collins had led a dominant A’s scrum and Syd Blackmore who had to switch to openside flanker after Joe Bercis failed a fitness test pre kick-off, was everywhere seemingly turning the ball over at will in the breakdowns.
The second half proved difficult for Carnegie as the A’s ran rampant for the first thirty minutes with Jon Kpoku, Man of the Match Syd Blackmore and Sam Wainwright on his debut from Saracens all scored tries and arch poacher Sam Baker bagged a brace to leave the final score 10 v 52.
A strong second half where backs and forwards interchanged regularly and executed well despite the conditions.
Assistant Coach Mouritz Botha said “We asked the boys for a professional performance and they delivered. We are proud of how they applied themselves and we have a short turnaround before a tough game on Friday night in the second road trip in six days away at old rivals Hartpury.”
Image: Jo Heady