On this cold Saturday in December Woking RFC were to travel to Guildford to square off against league leaders The Guildfordians formally known as "Bison's" who are also unbeaten thus far. With Woking's last league game resulting in a heavy defeat at the hands of Old Glynonians the Woking boys knew a huge effort was needed to compete today.
The game started with Woking trying to make a statement and control the game in the forwards with some heavy exchanges in the opening 15 minutes. However, the Guildfordian's were well prepared and defended excellently and with a decent boot, the outside half cleared the Guildfordian lines well and forced Woking deep into their own half. Guildford then took a stranglehold on their opponents and played their ski slope pitch very well. Tries came through for the Guildfordians through their backs with very good hands and awareness allowing them to burst through the gaps. Woking came back hard but every time they were in striking distance the ball was forced and caused countless knock-ons and turnovers. It was for this reason the Guildfordians would strike the next blow in quick counter attacking and again good fast hands through the backs. The first half ended at 12 - 3 in favour of Guildfordians. During the first half player/coach Martin Crossan suffered a broken arm who was replaced by Hamilton-Wilkes in the front row.
Woking made positional changes at half time to try a different approach on the game. Dan Edwards stepping into 10 from 13 and Paddy Goodburn shifting into 12 to try and have more of an impact up the middle. This said Guildford came out of the blocks very strong and scored 2 early tries, sapping all hope out of the Woking players. Behind the posts injured captain Phil Robertson gave a short and aggressive speech the lads to up the pride and go for broke.
Woking appeared more aggressive from this point and started taking the game to the Bisons up front; heavies Nick Franchino and John Stedman endlessly hammered into the Bisons and Steve Rhodes once again caused all sorts of problems, continuously being first to the breakdown and further landing huge tackles. Woking made huge ground going uphill in the second half and replacement 8 Joe Bennett would score Woking's only try gave the boys a much needed boost. Bennett who was playing his final game of the season before joining the Marines replaced Matt Brennan who had a good strong game in the back row. Woking continued to play to their strengths in the tight, Colin Harriott stood out on the day around the fringes and Dale Lovell also attacking as hard as ever. To be fair to the Bisons, their defence proved why they are currently top of the table, as no more points were to be scored through their ranks. Bison's did add another unconverted try to their tally making the final score 29 - 10.
Phil Robertson did state after the match that there was a good commitment from the boys today with the never say die attitude, there were plenty of positives and plenty of things to take to the training ground. “The score wasn't really a true reflection of the game for me. Yes, Bisons did finish their opportunities and defend extremely well, but there were plenty of opportunities and possession for us. We forced the game, made too many errors at the final phase of play allowing ourselves to get turned over or fumble the ball forward. These are things we can work on to improve after the holidays. I know the boys will be hurting deep down and have the thirst to come back and prove themselves. The club overall are having an exceptional season with the 2nd outfit, the Saxons who are on a streak of 11 wins with plenty of guys who will be pushing the 1st team in the near future which is something new to the club. Well done boyos!!
