Saxons Struggle Against Andover Attack

The Saxons were looking forward to testing themselves against 4th placed Andover, a team we have been competetive with over the last two seasons, but from the very start Andover proved to be a strong and dynamic team, capatilising on a slow start from the Saxons. The Andover side played very quick ball and the offload game superbly, to leave the Saxons running out of defenders and playing back foot rugby. Their first score came after 3 minutes with a converted try.

However, the Saxons initially responded, putting pressure on Andover at the restart and Jamie Stephenson stealing an interception befor setting up Liam to sneak through and over, so after 5 minutes scores were level at 7-7; it was clear we were in for a high scoring afternoon! Unfortunately most of the scores went Andovers way, with runners making half breaks, offloading to support players who made full breaks and the Saxons were trying to defend from behind. After three further Andover scores, Rory made a great break and showed his pace, strength and sidestep following a break in our 22 to score after 18 minutes to bring the Saxons 2 scores behind at 28-14. Andover then dashed any hope, with 4 more unanswered tries and the match was complete at half time withe Andover more than 35 points clear, match result 52-14.

The game continued as a friendly and suddenly the Saxons were competetive in the game, with James Diamond scoring twice and Rory finishing a period of sustained pressure. Andover also scored three times and the second half finshed 19-19.

This was the first time the Saxons have been in such a one-sided match in over a Season, even against Alton, New Miton and Trojans. We can put it down to experience and look forward to the next match with Anodver, but there will be some work to do at training, we will want to know how to counter teams like Andover and also how to atack like they did. Well done Saxons, still a great team.