Wootton’s ‘arrogance’ handed Windsor win
Pattinson’s men trip up complacent Bassett to seal 21-20 victory
Windsor RFC head coach Jack Pattinson was pleased to see Royal Wootton Bassett’s display of arrogance come back to bite them as his side battled back to beat them 21-20 on Saturday.
Bassett are one of the three best teams in South West 1 East and have been challenging Old Centralians and Banbury for top spot all season.
But at the weekend they were taught a lesson by Pattinson’s men, having thrown away the chance of victory after refusing to go for a conversion in a bid to score a fourth try and get a bonus point.
Chris Pattinson had touched down for the hosts with six minutes to go but, instead of going for the extras – which, in hindsight, would have given them an unassailable lead – they opted to get the game restarted. It was a decision they would live to regret.
“With six minutes to go, they scored to make it 20-7 and, rather than deciding to take the conversion at goal, they actually rejected the opportunity to have a conversion because they wanted to try and score again in the final five minutes to get a bonus point win,” said Pattinson.
“From kick off, we scored straight away to make it 2014. They kicked it back to us but it didn’t go 10 and we had a scrum on the halfway line.
“We won the scrum, won a penalty and kicked it into the corner and scored to win the game.
“And because they rejected the conversion, we actually ended up winning the game.
“They obviously thought the game was wrapped up and won, that they didn’t need to worry about the conversion and would just try to get a fourth try and the extra point.
“I’ve never seen anything like that in rugby, to actually reject taking the conversion.
“It probably borders on the line of arrogance to say no, we won’t take the kick, the game is already won.
“I’m sure they will have learnt their lesson and they won’t do that again to my boys.”
Windsor remain in 10th place but close the gap to Beaconsfield above them to just two points. The Royals host Beaconsfield at Home Park tomorrow (Saturday) and Pattinson is desperately hoping complacency doesn’t set in after last weekend’s stunning and unexpected victory. He knows it represents another great opportunity to continue their climb up South West 1 East.
“It was a great day and hopefully we can just keep up the momentum but it will be tough because teams will now be looking at us and taking us a bit more seriously,” he said.
“Beaconsfield were 12 points ahead of us at Christmas and after two games, that deficit is now just two points. We’ve got an opportunity to try and climb above them.
“My biggest fear is our boys begin to have enemy complacency where they start thinking they can just turn up and beat teams because they beat second in the league. But that’s so far away from reality. We’ve got to keep working hard and training really well. We can’t get complacent because they (Beaconsfield) are a good team and we can’t take them lightly. It’s a massive opportunity for us on Saturday and I’m looking forward to it.”