Celts travel to Fordingbridge for season opener.

An 11am kick off and motorway closures meant an early start for some players but everyone was onsite by 10.15am for warm ups which was a good sign. A few last minute withdrawals meant the Celts travelled rather light at 17 players. 6 players were already committed to play for The Celtic Trojans at Vectis while another 9 players were out due to injury or illness. Nevertheless, the boys were up for the challenge!!
From the kick off, it was clear Fordingbridge have some big, strong, attacking players and the Celts were immediately under pressure and quickly penalised for sealing off the ruck. The referee explained to Oliver Smith (C) what he was looking for and adjustments were made. Once the Celts got their hands on the ball, we made ground up the pitch towards the left corner. Steady pressure from the forwards drew the defence in and once ready, Thomas Hutchinson and William May got the ball across to the opposite corner of the pitch where Peter Headley and Charlie Fisher beat the remaining defenders to cross over for the first try (Charlie Fisher 0-5). Unfortunately, the conversion from the 5m line into the wind was unsuccessful.
Again, from the restart, the Celts were under pressure and couldn’t easily clear their lines after good pressure from Fordingbridge. After a bit of back and forth, The Celts were penalised at the breakdown for an infringement. From the resulting penalty kick, fordingbridge had a line out on the Celts 22. A wonderful set piece move caught the Celts unaware and the fordingbridge centre crossed under the posts unchallenged. A wake up call for the Celts? A simple conversion saw Fordingbridge take the lead 7-5. The Celts heads did not drop though. As a group they battled their way back into the game with dominating scrums and solid Lineouts. The “new look” forwards were clicking and we were back in position in no time. A wonderful 20m pass from Jake Hoare set Charlie Fisher free with Harrison Bennett in support. Harrison was set free to run 50m into the opposition 22 where he was intercepted by the opposition full back. He popped the ball to Charlie who was tackled just before crossing the line. A scrap for the ball resulted in a Gosport scrum 5m out. William May (No. 8) picked from the scrum, went blind and crossed unopposed. More good work from the forwards. Celts back in front 7-10 just as half time was called. A positive start.
The half time message from the coaches was to go out and dominate the first ten minutes of the second half. The opposite happened and Fordingbridge pinned us in our 22 and kept the pressure on, knowing the next score could be critical. And so it was! Jake Hoare made a great try saving tackle from the big full back when he looked clear through. After trying set moves off the Lineout and crashing the ball up from close range (only to be smashed back by Elliott Giles), Fordingbridge eventually moved the ball wide. A good defensive rush from William May and Charlie Fisher saw them gang up on the opposition centre who fumbled the ball. Charlie Fisher picked it up off his ankles and hit the after burners. Harrison Bennett escorted him in under the posts for an 80m run in. The crowd loved it. It was tough on Fordingbridge, after such a sustained period of pressure, they probably deserved to get something from it. Instead, after Thomas Hutchinson slotted the extra 2 points, the score was 7-17.
Many teams would have crumpled and maybe Fordingbridge would have done had the Celts finished a couple of clear chances in the corners. The ball was being spread wide at rapid pace and even the referee was struggling to keep up. Fordingbridge kept fighting and turned to the boot to try to get in behind the Celts. 3 out of 4 kicks over the top were taken nicely by the Celts with Joshua Fernandes coolly calling his first mark of the season under the posts and under pressure from the onrushing 6’ centre. Well done!
The Celts front rows Jack Harrison, Michael Cromie, Brieuc Soulayrac and William Parker all put in magnificent shifts and the scrum never looked in doubt. It never allowed Fordingbridge quick ball and if they ever got a sniff, Harry Cromie was all over the opposition scrum half. Oliver Smith captained the side superbly, leading from the front throughout and protecting all his team mates at the breakdown. Tom Warwick found himself out wide a number of times helping to find the overlap.
Fordingbridge were not allowed to settle and the Celts were looking for their first bonus point of the season! The ball was going from left to right, the forwards were securing the breakdown and the backs were passing and running; it was great to watch. Fordingbridge tried to clear their lines with the boot only to find Sam Starr, another debutant who picked up the ball, beat three defenders before unfortunately being driven into touch.
After a missed opportunity in each corner, it looked like the BP was not on but after a nice play on the left side, and a cut back from Elliott Giles, Thomas Hutchinson fed Morgan Clayton took two defenders out and still managed to offload. The ball eventually made its way out wide to Charlie Fisher who repaid the favour and offloaded to Peter Headley to score his first off the season. It was not an easy finish and he had to beat two defenders and stretch over, one handed to get the BP from the Celts and make the final score 7-22.
As a team performance, this was one of their best and there were some excellent individual performances too:
Harry Cromie – calm and collected in possession, a man possessed in defence!
Thomas Hutchinson – the perfect decision maker at 10.
Elliott Giles - solid performance all round, deservedly named man of the match.
Oliver Smith - Captain fantastic once again. Master of the breakdown.
Whilst the rugby was a joy to watch, there were some simple lessons to be learned and to be addressed in training over the next two weeks before the visit of Trojans 10.10.21.
Well done to the Celts on their eagerly anticipated first ever league match.
Thanks to Deep Blue Financial sponsors.
Thank you to all the support, you were amazing too!!