Marlow's spirit is Put to the test
Marlow RFC: Rory Greenslade-Jones' side seal dramatic late
Marlow's 'resilience and character ' were put to the test by visitors Bicester in Saturday's Southern Counties North League opener at Riverwoods, but the hosts held their nerve, thanks in the main to a brilliant late kick from 18-year-old Dre Raubenheimer.
The hosts appeared to be well on their way to victory as they opened up a 10-0 half-time lead, but Bicester refused to buckle, and wrestled the momentum from Marlow in the second half.
A couple of penalties and a well-worked try saw them grasp an 11-10 lead late in the game, however, Raubenheimer, had other ideas on his debut for the club.
When Marlow were awarded a penalty wide out on the touchline in the final seconds, few expected the young man to slot the ball between the sticks, but that's exactly what he did to Rory Greenslade-Jones’ men a first win of the season and four precious points.
It was perhaps slightly harsh on their persistent visitors, who fought bravely in the second half to bring themselves back into contention.
A try from Patrick Toone, and another penalty from Raubenheimer had eased Marlow into a 10-0 half-time lead.
After the match, head coach GreensladeJones reflected: “In terms of the way the teams started, we were by far the stronger in the first half.
“We scored early on and kicked away a penalty but unfortunately, we couldn’t turn most of our pressure into points.
“Some of the referee’s decisions didn’t go our way and we probably should’ve scored another two tries by half time. That was something we tried to address in the second half but unfortunately, it didn’t really happen that way.
“They (Bicester) started chipping away at the lead almost immediately, and when the score got to 10-6, in true Marlow fashion, we conceded a yellow card which I thought was really harsh.
“Ian Thomson, our blind side flanker, put in two massive hits. They didn’t like it as such, and a bit of a scuffle ensued. That cer
tainly shifted the momentum.
“For the final 15 minutes, Bicester started getting more of the ball and closer to the touchline.
“Our defence was pretty solid in open play, but they had a very beefy pack so trying to stop them from numerous driving mauls was quite difficult.
“But we showed great resilience and character to not let our heads drop, to keep ourselves in the game, and to ultimately get the win at the death. It’s a worth a mention of how good Andre was. With one minute to go, he was the player to step up and slot away the penalty.”
Getting off to a positive start is clearly a bonus for the Marlow coach, however, with so much disruption caused by the pandemic over the past two seasons, he's focused more on bringing players through and ensuring everyone enjoys their rugby, rather than targeting promotion.
“We’ve had a lot of transition with players just because of COVID, people retiring, people moving away.
“We just want to solidify the players we’ve got and really bring through the youngsters because we’ve got numerous academy boys over the last couple of seasons that have joined us.
“We’ve got quite a young team now, compared to what we did have when I first started around four or five seasons ago. It’s just going to be a year in which we need to create this environment with this new group of players and develop those.”
Greenslade-Jones will be hoping to see the same spirit and character on display in Saturday's derby match at High Wycombe.
“Well, it’s always a tough local derby down the road to play against them,” he said.
“We don’t really know what state High Wycombe are in, they seemed to have a good result at the weekend. We’ll just have to wait and see you know.
“We have got numerous people away this weekend because there is a wedding and stuff, so we have to deal with those issues as they arise, as will every other team.
“Hopefully, we will have a good referee because it’s important to manage the breakdown in local derbies and to stop any scuffles breaking out etc. We’re going to go down there hoping to win too.”