Resilient 1st XV Rugby Team Fall Short

Last Wednesday saw a very strong UWE side win despite a valiant effort from Southampton’s 1st XV.

Gale force winds provided the backdrop for the University of Southampton Men’s 1st XV trip to Bristol last Wednesday. The opponents were the perceived strongest team in the league, UWE 1st XV. After being on the receiving end of a thrashing this time round last year, Wessex were prepared for the challenge that awaited them.

With a heavy pack selected, the visitors sought to match up to the oppositions’ physicality. Akin to the previous week, albeit against the gusty wind, Wessex got off to a quick start. Patterns were executed from the first whistle but they were met with resolute defence from the hosts. An attritional match was thus to ensue; unfortunately UWE were to come out of this as victors.

The focus on the physical contest up-front perhaps drew concentration away from the UWE back line, who began to create a myriad of overlaps. Good scramble defence epitomised through centres Sam Lindsay and captain Freddie Gleadowe prevented these chances from being converted. This could only last so long however; UWE took advantage around the 20th minute by scoring a try after capitalizing on extra numbers out wide.

Unfortunately the curse of injury struck before half-time, with second row pairing Tommy Thornton and Josh Barron sustaining heavy knocks, subsequently ruling them out for the rest of the match. This stretched resources of the boys to their limit; prop Daniel Beechey and flanker David Jordan were forced to take up the vacant spaces in the engine room. To their credit, the scrum remained relatively stable in the second half.

12-0 down at the interval, Wessex again began brightly, with substitute Harry Burn sniping and tackling meaningfully from scrum half, resulting in him getting ‘Hit of the Day’ for preventing a certain try. After yet more patient build up play, fly half Adam Davies ghosted through the opposition line to touch down. Converting his own score, momentum shifted towards us. The sticking point however became the scrum. Facing a fresh front row off the UWE bench, there was little the newly assembled pack could do to hold their own. This relentless pressure took its toll, with the opposition driving their way over our try line. Yet another positive response allowed Davies to stylishly slot over a 45 metre penalty, reducing the lead to 7 points with 15 to play. Wessex continued to execute their brand of rugby, but the UWE defence was ultimately too resolute to break down.

UWE scored in the final minutes of the game, making the final score 22-10. It was a valiant effort from Wessex and for this reason the mood after the game was upbeat. Captain and ‘Man of the Match’ for his tireless work rate in both attack and defence, Freddie Gleadowe, pointed to how far we had come in a year. Positives, bar the score line, were aplenty. We hope to make amends for this in our next match today at Wide Lane against Bristol 2nd XV. Any support, as always, will be greatly appreciated.