Marlow bounce back from defeat to beat All Blacks
Greenslade-Jones' side get back on track with away win over Gosford
Marlow may have now lost their 100 per cent record, after a thrilling 19-30 home loss to Chinnor 3rds, but they got straight back to winning ways at the first time of asking in Saturday’s comfortable 34-7 away win at Gosford All Blacks.
Gosford were fifth in the Counties 1 Tribute Southern North table coming into Saturday's clash and had proved a difficult team to beat in the first half of the season – just ask leaders Chinnor and Wallingford, who just about edged them on by a handful of points.
Determined to reignite their season after the loss to Chinnor, Marlow pinned their hosts back inside their own 22 during the early stages of the match, forcing them to kick before returning it up field with interest. However, against the run of play, the hosts stole into a 7-0 lead, running a slick set piece move that confounded the visiting defence.
However, worries of a midseason blip were quickly put to the back of the mind as the visitors drew level through forward Patrick Toone. Toone picked up from the back of a five-metre scrum and ran around the fringes to touch down. Tim Cunningham swept over the conversion to make it 7-7 and from that moment on, Marlow relaxed into game.
Much of the remainder of the half was spent in Gosford's 22, and – after a catch and drive try was disallowed for failing to ground the ball properly – the visitors did make it 14-7 when a pick and go saw Phil Hellmuth crash over the line for another converted try.
Marlow never looked back and the rest of the game was played out with Rory Greenslade-Jones’ side in the ascendancy. A well-worked line out move saw the ball passed through hands quickly for Dean Whitely to cross for Marlow’s third try.
Gosford did see some of the ball, but their efforts were repelled by Marlow's smothering defence.
Hugo Jafari cut through the Gosford defensive line to score out wide to make it 24-7 – and secure a valuable bonus point.
While the hosts created some dangerous moments, they were unable to breach
Marlow’s defence again. They missed from a penalty kick and Marlow attacked them off the base of a scrum, Whitely maintaining his fine form this season to run straight through the hosts backline for another simple try before halftime (29-7).
With the game well won, the pace dropped significantly after the interval. Marlow promised much with their build up play but ultimately weren’t able to significantly add to their points total.
Attacks were thwarted by their own ill-discipline or handling errors, and Greenslade-Jones will be disappointed
by misfires from their own line out and the general sense that they failed to take full advantage of their dominance and territory.
However, while they were much improved defensively, Gosford weren’t able to put many phases together to really threaten the Marlow try line. They couldn’t hold the visitors off forever, though and Gosford's defence cracked when Chris Ntoni scored his first try for the first XV to make the final score 34-7.
Try scorers: Patrick Toone, Phil Hellmuth, Dean Whitely (X2), Hugo Jafari, Chris Ntoni
MOTM: Tom Bird.