Lowestoft & Yarmouth march into third round
DATCHWORTH 20, LOWESTOFT & YARMOUTH 28: Despite unavailabilities and positional changes, L&Y travelled to Hertfordshire and put in an excellent first half performance to secure a place in the third round of the National Senior Vase.
The home side rallied in the second half to make a game of it but L&Y always had enough in hand to win.
The L&Y pack dominated the set-piece scrums from the kick-off and despite missing their two main jumpers they held their own at the line-outs with Steve Powles impressing at the front.
The reshuffled back-line looked confident and ran at every opportunity keeping Datchworth on the back foot.
The first score came as Chris Howe, playing at No 8, took the ball at the back of a line-out and fed Russ Chapman who in turn passed to Myles Macalone, who went down the middle of the park for 60 yards, side-stepping the grasping defence to score. Chapman converted.
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A lack of concentration and some dubious refereeing decisions then let Datchworth back with a try of their own.
This signalled the start of a strong 30 minutes by L&Y as first Brad Suhterland set off from his own 22 to get within five metres of the line. A scrum was awarded and the ball went again to the midfield and Macalone set up Kyle Hallam to crash over. Chapman converted.
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Another score soon followed as Sutherland took a quick penalty and set off Kristen Taylor Crisp down the left wing and when he was stopped short Jan Schiedje was on hand to collect the ball and power over. Chapman converted.
The last L&Y score came from scrum-half Josh Fewkes after Howe and Schiedje broke from the back of the scrum and fed back to Fewkes who touched down. Chapman converted for a 28-5 interval lead.
The second half was a story of Datchworth recovery as they ran in three tries in the left hand corner.
But L&Y hung on for victory and were able to introduce young Tom Dare for his first senior run out on the wing.
He acquitted himself well but lack of any quality ball denied him the chance to express his talent to the full.
• Wisbech joined Lowestoft & Yarmouth in the third round with an exciting 23-17 win over Barnet Elizabethans.
But the success was achieved at a heavy price as they lost captain Tom Long to a shoulder ligament injury which is likely to keep him out until Christmas.
