Welwyn 1st XV vs Ruislip Match report

Welwyn lost once again to bogey side Ruislip at Handside on Saturday.

Having beaten Ruislip only once in their last five meetings, the result was no great surprise.

With Gareth Hughes unavailable, Welwyn had to rejig their resources and fielded a rearranged back division with Jon Child moving to full back and Kris Birkin coming in to partner brother Kyle in the centre.

Ian Ward, selected for his first game of the season, secured a lot of good line-out ball and stood out in the loose for his determined and elusive running.

However, no tries were scored in Saturday's London Three North West match and Ruislip won 4-1 on penalty kicks.

The early exchanges took place between the 25 metre lines and handling errors proved costly for both teams.

Gaining good line-out ball and with hooker Banks winning at least two scrums against the head, Welwyn grew in confidence.

Some excellent inter-passing between the forwards took play deep inside the opposition half, but sound defence and some very good touch kicking by the Ruislip outside half prevented a score.

Welwyn set up another passing movement but were penalised for crossing, and then taken back a further 10 metres for back chat.

Ruislip were now in a position to take a kick at goal, which was converted for a 3-0 lead. The visitors soon increased their advantage with a penalty for not releasing the ball quickly enough after a tackle.

The home side tested Ruislip in the next passage of play and two opposition players were cautioned and given yellow cards.

Part of their time off the field overlapped, leaving Ruislip with just 13 players for a short period.

Welwyn tried to take advantage of their numerical supremacy and pinned Ruislip inside their half but their defence held. The Handside club missed a kickable penalty and unfortunately failed to register a score.

The visitors converted a third penalty for obstruction before half-time to further increase their lead.

Luke Williams responded for Welwyn, kicking a good penalty to reduce the deficit to six points at the interval.

Both teams started confidently after the break and from a Ruislip three-quarters movement, Welwyn centre Kyle Birkin intercepted a pass and broke through with several players in support.

A try looked possible, but the referee judged it to be a deliberate knock-on and awarded Ruislip a penalty, which was successfully kicked to increase the lead to 12-3.

Welwyn made a number of substitutions and fresh pressure saw another Ruislip player shown a second yellow card.

In Hughes' absence, Welwyn once again missed a kickable penalty.

With ample possession and good territorial advantage, Welwyn still looked as though they could salvage something from the game. Centre Kyle Birkin engineered a gap for brother Kris with a short, quick pass but again the whistle brought Welwyn back.

Both Turnbull and Knapp contributed with strong runs but fell to good cover tackles.

A fourth Ruislip player was yellow carded and sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.

Still Welwyn were unable to capitalise on their man advantage and it was Ruislip who came closest to a try.

A defensive clearance by Welwyn failed to find touch and the visiting outside half, who had a fine all-round game, gathered the ball and made good ground before chipping into the right-hand corner.

Child went down just short of the line, but the ball was recycled quickly and passed swiftly through several pairs of hands to the left wing, who was brilliantly tackled into touch by the corner flag.

Welwyn ran the ball from defence near the end and a half break put James Turnbull in the clear and he sprinted fully 60 metres but was unable to beat the full back.