Bletchley blitzed in super Bowl win (From Gazette Series)

Bletchley blitzed in super Bowl win

South West Bowl Final Dursley U17s 23 Bletchley U17s 0

THE South West Bowl was taken back to Dursley after an emphatic victory over a tough Bletchley side.

The match was played at Henley-on-Thames on a beautiful afternoon for running rugby and Dursley were backed by more than 50 travelling supporters.

Dursley were clearly out to impress and they spent nearly the whole of the first period camped in the Bletchley half of the field.

However, the Bletchley defence was excellent and it took some fine work by the Dursley backs to break through.

Jamie Muir slotted three points early on but it took another 20 minutes before the centre partnership of Steve Kirk and Andy Sprague were able to put Tommy Gannon into space out wide. Gannon still had a lot to do to beat the covering defence and he used a perfect sidestep and blistering pace to score in the corner to make it 8-0.

The second try came following some excellent defensive work by Simon Camm after a Bletchley kick forward. Camm showed great skills when he chased back, sliding to the ball and standing up all in one movement.

He put Barney O'Dowd away and he got close to the line where a ruck was formed and scrum-half H Pullin fired the ball out wide for Gannon to score again. Another missed conversion kept it to 13-0.

The Bletchley defence really had to work for the rest of the half to prevent Dursley from running away with the game.

The pack were dominant at all set pieces with the front row union of Martin Tudor, Sam Fitzjohn and David Jenkins impressing.

It was at one scrum just inside the Dursley half that the Dursley eight put the Bletchley pack under such pressure that they infringed.

Muir stepped up to kick a colossal penalty from 50 metres out to make it 16-0.

Dursley did not relent on the pressure though and late in the half Pullin was able to catch the Bletchley scum-half and Mike Tree was on hand to pick up the fumbled ball and sprint clear for the third try of the afternoon.

Muir converted to give the Dursley side a commanding 23-0 lead going into the break.

The Bletchley team stepped up their work rate in the second half and made it harder work for the maroon and golds but it was to no avail as Dursley shut them out.

The evening celebrations included the end of season awards, with Tom Barton and Jamie Moir picking up Clubmen of the Year awards, Barney O'Dowd the Most Improved Player and Jamie Muir the Player of the Year.