Following on from last week’s close loss Ivel went into today’s game with a desire to win. Although that desire took its time to appear as, within 25 minutes, they were 19-0 down. Ivel had been caught out by a quickly taken tap penalty leading to a try, just two minutes after the visitors had scored following turn-over of ball at a ruck on Ivel’s 20 metre line. The third try came following a hotly disputed line-out. This finally seemed to wake Ivel from their slumber, and they showed what they can do as a team. First James Best touched down in the corner after some good work by the forwards securing the ball and then linking with the backs. The conversion was missed. WSM then came back with their fourth try of the half, just after 30 minutes. Just before the half-time whistle Ivel secured ball from a scrum. Barry Law, scrum-half for the day, went on a run from his own 20 metre line up to the oppositions half. Quick ball went to captain Kris Shore who touched down. Emlyn Kuhn secured the conversion.

Half Time: 12-24

The second half started with Ivel on the front foot and only being denied by the spoiling tactics of their opponents. Then the ball was moved quickly out to centre James Best who scored his second try of the day. The conversion was missed. The momentum was with the home side now. Next score came from one of the players of the day, hooker Troy Fowler, when he charged down a kick in the WSM try zone. It was excellent use of the forehead to block the kick. Kuhn scored the extra points. 24-24 and things were getting interesting. One of the highlights of the game was veteran prop Mark Davidge chipping the opposition back line and sprinting after the ball. Ivel’s play and pressure came to ply when they scored their next try. Shaun Rudd took a tap penalty, passed to Kris Shore and he powered over the line for his second score. Conversion scored. WSM were not done. They scored an un-converted try after winning ball at a ruck. No problem for Ivel now, they had the wind in their sails and not even the sin-binning of flanker Andrew Cook could slow them down. First Kuhn scored a penalty and then Shaun Rudd showed that he had obviously seen Davidge’s earlier chip and chase. The result from his attempt was an un-converted try. The final score of the day was a second for Fowler, touching down in the corner.

Full Time: 44-29

Team manager Simon Chubb said afterwards: “Why we take over twenty minutes to wake up and realise we are in a match is beyond me. Having said that, the lads performed brilliantly through the rest of the match. If we can keep the same core of players for next week’s home match there’s no reason why we can’t secure more points. The performance, by the whole team, was excellent and that’s why we had three man-of-match awards today.”