| Clifton 6 - Dings 6 |
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Dings Crusaders RFC National League Two South Saturday 5th December 2009 Clifton 6 Dings 6 CLIFTON will count themselves lucky to have held on to their unbeaten home record after they were given a torrid time by a pumped up Dings Crusaders side in this thrilling derby match at Cribbs Causeway. Clifton’s director of rugby Darren Lloyd admitted after that his team was fortunate to hang on for the draw. He said, ”We didn’t play well today. We turned the ball over 19 times in contact and you just cant do that and expect to win games. Dings played with a spirit that sadly was missing from our side today,” Dings in contrast played with great enthusiasm and passion with their front row trio of Chas Meddick, Dave Wheeler and Tim Brockett totally dominating their Clifton counterparts in the scrummage and Steve Plummer, a late call up at scrum half impressing behind the dominant Dings eight. It looked like business as usual from the start with Clifton fly half John Barnes landing a penalty on 15 minutes. Clifton began to employ their trade-mark expansive style in the opening exchanges but the Dings defence was equal to the task and held firm. Barnes extended the lead four minutes later before Ding got any sort of rhythm going. Dings pulled back three points on half time with a penalty from their stand off Tom Lukjaniec. The fly half got his chance to score after Clifton were reduced to 14 men when hooker Sam Wilkes was sin binned for foul play. On reflection, Dings might have regretted not opting to take the scrum at that point as they had already demonstrated their superiority in this area and Clifton were further weakened by Wilkes dismissal. The weather deteriorated in the second half and both teams opted to kick for field position. David Rees was rock solid under the high ball all afternoon for Clifton as was Barnes but Plummer’s inclusion into the Crusaders side helped to level things up in the kicking department. Lukjaniec second penalty on 47 minutes returned parity to the scoreboard which, gave the visitors confidence. Dings must be given credit as they didn’t give Barnes any opportunities to kick for goal in the second half apart from a poor attempt at a drop goal which was wide and short. Clifton one saving grace was their line out which got them out of jail on several occasions. Nevertheless, Dings will feel that it was two points lost rather than two point gained Dings Coach James Farndon reflected that sense of an opportunity missed. He said “To be honest we are very disappointed. We felt we were the better side out there today and we should have won. We played the better rugby in the second half. We carried well and had better ball retention but just couldn’t get the win”
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