2nd-march-2013

Fakenham had a pre match lunch prior to this Norfolk Merit Table Division 1 match. The lunch and match ball were both sponsored by AOT Engineering of Fakenham. Fakenham met a Lakenham Hewett side that were only able to raise 13 players to travel, Fakenham’s second team fixture had been cancelled and there were plenty of front row replacements so Lakenham borrowed two to enable them to start the match with a full side.

The game was started with a kick that did not travel 10 meters, Fakenham decided to have the kick re-taken and, with possession, Fakenham attacked with strength and speed to put Tom Bane-Young in for a try which he could not add the extras for the kick (5-0). Tom sustained an injury in the act of scoring and tried to play on and recover from it.

Fakenham thought they had taken the lead early in this game when after a prolonged attack and 4 or 5 phases of play around the Walsham 5 meter line saw Craig Prior dive between the defence's legs to ground the ball. The referee was unsighted and therefore could not award the try, much to Craig's and Fakenham's anoyance.

Both sets of forward seemed to struggle with the interpretation of the law relating to competition for the ball at rucks. Some rucks were just a pile up of bodies with both sides infringing, issues included not releasing the ball or going off their feet to compete for the ball. Three such incidences produced opportunities for kickable penalties in the first half, 33 minutes Into the game Fakenham infringed at a ruck and gave Walsham the lead with a penalty kick (0-3). Four minutes later Fakenham were on the attack and this time Walsham infringed to give Fakenham a chance to equalise and Tom Bane-Young slotted the kick (3-3). The game was end to end, Fakenham defence were again adjudged to have infringed the laws and found themselves behind on the stroke of half time 3-6.