Harrison hounds Albanian as Caldy dominate

A COMBINATION of a cold day and a heavy pitch always looked likely to make the clash between Caldy and Old Albanian a forward battle, but in truth this was no battle.

Caldy dominated all facets of play and up front the superb home pack bludgeoned OA in the set piece play and in the loose.

The first score was logged in five minutes from a touch down by the splendid Harrison Crowe, after a 20-metre driven maul could not be stopped by OA.

The second score arrived two minutes later as Nick Royle gathered a towering cross-field kick by fly-half Rhys Hayes to go in at the corner.

Both scores were converted by Gavin Roberts and, such was their dominance, Caldy must have hoped for more scores before half time but as conditions deteriorated, so did the rugby.

The second half was a continuing wrestle in the increasingly heavy conditions.

Caldy continued to dominate but OA’s scrambling defence held out and there was no further score until a burst of pinball between the sides eventually put the ball in the hands of Gavin Roberts, who streaked in to score from halfway to put some polish on Caldy’s victory.

The home side will be happy with the win, but could come to rue missing out on a 12th bonus point of the season, when in a dominant position and capable of scoring more.