Jan 08 - Norwich v Dev Squad (A)

L 22 - 5  Match Report Attached

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Norwich 22 Wymondham(Dev) 5

The first game after the Xmas / New Year break  saw Wymondham travel to Beeston for the away fixture against Norwich. Wymondham were mindful that Norwich would be keen to avenge the corresponding fixture earlier in the season and also they needed to watch their dangerous inside centre. 

Wymondham  were on top in the opening exchanges which were spent entirely in the Norwich half, and although the play was scrappy, Wymondham were applying all the pressure with strong play from the forwards which the Norwich defence stood up to solidly. The passage of play changed when Norwich won the ball after 10 minutes and their danger man ran through from his own half, scoring under the posts to open the scoring which was then converted.

Following the restart, Wymondham were again encamped in the Norwich half and applied yet more pressure and dominated the sequence of scrums which followed and almost scored after further strong forward play, finally breaching the Norwich try line but the ball was held up.  Almost immediately, Norwich again scored a breakaway try from their number 12 to lead 12-0, despite a valiant attempt at a full length tap-tackle. 

There then followed a further spell of scrappy play, with a number of handling errors from both sides and despite the Wymondham forwards again winning the majority of scrums the rucking and play in the backs lacked energy and the cutting edge to trouble the well organised defence. On the stroke of halftime Norwich again broke away and ventured into the Wymondham half for only the third time to score again to lead 17-0.

Wymondham also had the majority of the ball at the start of the second half but again appeared to lack the guile or quick ball to score points from the possession and territorial advantage, with any strong running being negated by equally strong tackling. After a series of penalties, however, Wymondham  eventually scored following a quick tap and the forwards working well together  with Ryan Smith grounding the ball in the corner (17-5).

 Wymondham needed to score again quickly to have any chance of winning but this was not to be the case with each side cancelling one another out, before Norwich scored again with some fine offloading and handling skills. It was good to see that Wymondham had finally got to grips with the Norwich danger man who didn’t have the same impact in the second half, albeit, the damage had already been done.

Overall a spirited Wymondham display where the final score did not fully reflect the performance. 

Man of the match for Wymondham went to Ryan Smith who impressed on debut.