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Thriller In The Valleys - Saints 21 Warriors 18
The Oxford Saints held on in a nail biting finish on Sunday to beat the South Wales Warriors for the second time this season. Oxford jumped out to a 21 – 6 first half lead then were left hanging on for victory as the Warriors staged a storming second half comeback.
The Saints got on the board first. Jay Taylor marshalled the Saint’s offence down the field, a big run up the middle for 20 yards from Chris Ellis took the Saints into the Welsh red zone. A couple of plays later saw the Saints camped on the Warriors 3 yard line.
Taylor dropped back to pass and found human points machine Kyle Micallef in the end zone for the first score, Phil Ghouldie missed the PAT, Oxford up 6 – 0.
The Warriors came roaring straight back, an 11 yard pass from QB Gareth Thomas to Ryan Jones electrified the home crowd, Oxford’s Chris Ellis blocked the PAT, scores tied 6 – 6.
The 2nd quarter belonged to the Saints. A massive sack on Thomas from man mountain Thomas Beauchamp pinned the Welsh offense deep inside their own 10 yard line. Wales were forced to punt from out of their own end zone & a good return from Phil Ghouldie set up the Oxford offence in great field position deep inside the Warriors half. Jay Taylor took to the field again and led the Oxford offence down to the 8 yard line of the Warriors. With the Warriors defence thinking run, Taylor rolled out and fired a perfect pass into the Welsh end zone and into the hands of brother Chris for the go ahead score, J.Taylor then found Alec Spurling in the end zone for a 2 point PAT, Oxford up 14 – 6.
The Oxford defence shut the Warriors down on their next possession and again the Warriors found themselves defending in their own half after another good punt return from Ghouldie.
The Oxford offence was in ruthless first half mood and sliced through the Warriors defence seemingly at will. Good runs from Ellis and Chris Taylor behind a brutal offensive line, quickly took the Saints down to the Warriors 1 yard line. Jay Taylor smashed his way into the end zone behind a huge block from centre Stuart Cribbes to extend the Saints lead, Johnny Dover slotted the PAT, Saints up 21 – 6 at the interval and cruising.
The 2nd half saw the real fun begin. With the Saints mistakenly thinking that the dragon had well and truly been sleighed, they took their foot off of the gas. Big mistake, the dragon roared again.
The Warriors came out in the 2nd half determined to not let the Saints out of the valleys without a fight. Gareth Thomas found WR Thomas Wilson streaking through the Saints secondary all alone, Wilson caught the pass and raced into the end zone for a 30 yard score, Ellis blocked his second PAT, Wales had reduced the deficit to 21 – 12.
With both Oxfords offence and defence going off the boil after their 1st half romp, the plucky Warriors seized their opportunity in the 4th quarter. With the Warriors defence turning up the heat and shutting down every thing for Oxford that worked in the 1st half, QB Thomas found himself leading his offense deep inside Oxford territory again. Thomas needed no second invitation to get his team right back up there with a shout at snatching victory. Thomas found that man Wilson with another long pass into the Oxford end zone, a 32 yard touch down pass produced a heart stopping finish for the Saints travelling supporters, the PAT was missed and the Saints now had a slender lead of 21 -18.
A good looking drive from the Oxford offence was negated by a couple of penalties and Oxford was forced to punt the ball away. Luckily for Oxford and unluckily for the Welsh the Saints defence from the 1st half had re-emerged. Big plays from the Oxford defence began to stifle the hopes of the Warriors once more. Ross Ghouldie sacked Thomas for a big loss then Gatis Kozlouskis nailed the Warriors RB on a screen pass forcing him to fumble, Kazlouskis dived on the loose ball giving control back to the Oxford offence with under 2 minutes left and a chance to kill the game off.
The Warriors defence were having none of that and quickly forced the Saints into a 3 and out, giving the Warriors offence one final chance to pull victory from the fire. A good punt to the corner from Adam Newman saw the Warriors having to go from their 15 yard line with only 1 minute remaining to win it.
Up stepped the Saints defence and took it away from them in style. Ben Tolley picked off a Warriors pass only for it to be called back by a bizarre penalty call. The Saints then nailed the Welsh RB in the backfield for a huge loss only for another penalty to give the Warriors another chance. Ben Bishop batted a pass down, then Johnny Dover, then Kazlouskis to end the drive and the game. The Saints holding on for a 21 – 18 win.
The victory secures the Saints a place in the playoffs and moves them to a 7 – 1 record. The Saints play Leicester Falcons at home at Abingdon Rugby club this Sunday, Kick Off 2.30pm.
Published: 14-07-2010 by Andrew Day