Early tries help Marlow pick up momentum in victory over Abbey
Full-back Jafari instrumental as Marlow overcome local rivals for another bonus-point victory
A couple of early tries got Marlow off to a flying start against Reading Abbey on Saturday and the hosts didn’t look back from there, comfortably winning an entertaining game of rugby 42-24.
The side were missing a few players from their exceptional 47-19 away win at Milton Keynes – a team who beat them both home and away last season – but any disruption to their fine start to the campaign proved minimal.
Once again, they played expansive rugby and looked to heap the pressure onto their visitors from first whistle to last. Defensively, they’ll be a little disappointed at allowing Abbey to score four tries, with three of those coming in the second half, but in truth that couldn’t dampen another very encouraging display that brought them a third straight bonus point win.
Hugo Jafari, who has moved to fullback this season, was once again at the heart of most of Marlow’s good playing, prompting his teammates and probing for gaps to squeeze through along the backline.
He ran in two of the home side’s six tries, with Dean Whiteley getting another couple to add to his growing tally of scores this season. Forward Josh Richardson and Paddy Montgomery also got their name on the scoresheet while Mike Abbott slotted a few conversions and penalties at crucial times to keep Abbey at arm’s length on the scoreboard.
At 30-19 in the second half, Abbey briefly threatened a fight-back and maybe previous incarnations of Marlow might have folded, but this team looks stronger, fitter and has a better balance to it, and they responded well to run out 42-24 winners.
Reflecting on another very satisfying afternoon, head coach Rory
Greenslade Jones, said: “Due to the modern-day rugby player being unavailable,
we were down three or four players so we lost a little continuity from previous matches, but with all that to hand, we coped very well.
“A couple of boys came in and stepped up to the mark and we started quite well by scoring a couple of tries.
“The win over Milton Keynes was very encouraging because last season
we went there and lost by 50 points.
“We were really focused on it, having not given a good show of ourselves last time, mainly because most of our backline was unavailable. So, it probably lulled them into a false sense of security. This time we were driven, and we wanted to right a few wrongs. We took it to their forwards and ultimately, that’s where the battle was won.”
He added: “We’ve picked up a couple of people for the new season, Mike Abbott at fly-half, and his cousin, Harry Price, who has come up from the academy and they’ve been two big pluses for our backline.
“Also, we have a new player called Tom Fulford, who had a good preseason for us and has now taken a couple of his opportunities with both hands. Our fullback Dean Whiteley has transitioned to the wing, and he’s scored five tries in three games. He’s a very good runner with the ball, he has some great gas and has taken all his tries really well.
“Hugo Jafari, our captain last year, has steadied the ship in one of his favoured positions at fullback. With some young guys in front of him he’s been able to identify where the spaces are on the pitch and spot the gaps that need to be filled in defence. He’s taken to his new role excellently so we're more than happy with him as well.
“We can beat anyone on our day, all the teams who finished above us last season we beat comfortably, so it will come down to availability for us. Hopefully, now we're underpinned by a good coaching staff, we've brought in George Jafari, who was a former first team player and we also have a VEO video system which is helping with our analysis.
“We're starting to go on a bit of a journey now, and hopefully, hopefully, you never know.”
The victory over Abbey takes Marlow second in the table behind Chinnor 3rds, who've played a game more.
Greenslade-Jones will fancy their chances of extending their winning start to the season when they visit bottom of the table Swindon College Old Boys this Saturday (October 1).