Woodford vs Civil Service

Woodford 33 - Civil Service 22

Saturday 14th April 2007

KO 3PM

A superb display from Woodford yesterday saw the Highams men defeat Civil Service who, despite the defeat, claimed automatic promotion from London 2N. Service have been the leagues outstanding side this season but Woodford have shown great form in 2007 and wanted to beat a top three side to put the gloss on a remarkable turnaround.

Woodford started brightly and ominously for the Civil forward pack, drove them fifty metres from a lineout to set up an excellent attacking position. Service were forced into conceding penalties and John Dwight found his range with his second attempt to give the Highams men an early 3-0 lead. A great start for Woodford who looked the better side in the early exchanges. Service though were in no mood to be defeated and came back into the game strongly, using their powerful backline to make inroads into the Woodford half. From a lineout, Civil used their powerful inside centre to great effect who burst clear of the Woodford defence to score under the posts. Although the conversion was missed, Civil soon after extended their lead with a penalty goal as Woodford were now forced into conceding penalties to stop the Service machine.

Woodford had to stem the tide as they knew if they let Service get away from them, the Highams men could be on the end of a beating. Woodford attacked with a purpose that had been missing from the early part of the season and with Barrett and Luggeri combining well, the back line was starting to pick holes in the Service defence. Barrett was set clear by Dwight and came within five metres of the line only for the Service 6 to kill the ball and spend ten minutes in the bin for his troubles. This was a key moment in the match which Woodford used to full advantage. An intelligent dummy from Dwight allowed the skipper to bust the first tackle and offload to Barrett, who gleefully accepted the pass to score under the posts. A Dwight penalty further increased Woodford’s lead before Luggeri scored Woodford’s final points of the half to cap an astonishing first half display from the Woods who lead 18-8 at the interval.

The first score of the half was going to be an important one and it was Woodford who got it after 10 minutes of the restart as they continued to punish Service with some powerful forward play and outstanding work from the back division. It was again Barrett, enjoying his Easter break from University, who scored in the corner. Dwight then added a further penalty to increase the lead to 26-8 to the Woods with only 25 minutes remaining – it looked as though Woodford would close the match out. Service had other ideas and with the introduction of fresh legs in both the forwards and backs started to finally show the form that has seen them blow away their opposition in London 2 this season. It was again from a line out that the Service backs exploited the space – their speedy winger cut the line superbly to bust the Woodford defence open before drawing fullback Luggeri and with the Service 6 in support, Service were back in the game. Woodford tried to slow the game down as Service were now in the ascendancy, but gave away a penalty. Seeing the space quickly, the Service scrum half set his back division away. It took some brilliant offloading and excellent running lines to break the Woodford defence but the Service 12 was over again to bring them back to within 4 points with 15 to go. Woodford did not let their hard work go to waste however, and Rothwell capped a superb performance to go over the whitewash following a Cobble pick up and dummy from a scrum. Dwight added the extras to give Woodford a famous 33-22 victory.

This game marked the end of head coach Pete Christie’s reign at the club – all the players would like to thank him for his efforts over the years. Early on in the season the Woodford players were playing without any confidence and looked set for an early return to London 3 but Christie kept faith with us played a huge role in turning things around. I think he was fairly pleased to end his tenure with a victory against the best side in the league.

Congratulations to Service – with a powerful set of forwards and fast, skilful backs, it’s easy to see why they scored so many points this season. Good luck in London 1. In other league news, Tring secured a playoff spot and will face Thanet from London 2S for a place in London 1. Woodford have played both this season and it will a tight game – both are excellent sides and it may prove that home advantage for Tring will be the deciding factor.

Woodford from 1 to 15

Eleftheriou, Froud, Mullins (Kaiser 60), Red Rod Newbury, B Williams, Rothwell, Green, Cobble, N Williams, Dwight (C), Jolly, Moody, Barrett, Bevan, Luggeri