ALL GOLDS END LOSING RUN AS MERRETT HITS 300 POINTS

BRISTOL ALL GOLDS 40 – 18 BRENTWOOD EELS

Christopher Wilson at Lockleaze Sports Centre

SUMMARY

The Bristol All Golds ended a five-match losing run with an ultimately comfortable 40-18 win over Brentwood Eels. The All Golds scored eight tries to four in a hard-fought contest only decided in the final ten minutes when the All Golds ran in three unanswered tries.

In a ferocious first half, the All Golds opened the scoring with a try from Tom Baxter, but the Eels hit back through Ollie Strange and Harry Creed to lead 10-6.

Leon Atherton levelled matters midway through the half before Will Armour gave the All Golds a 14-10 half time lead.

Strange levelled matters again early in the second period before tries from Sam Gilder and Callum Merrett eased the home side to a 24-14 advantage.

Strange’s hat-trick try cut the deficit to a single score at 24-18 but in the final minutes the All Golds got on top and scored through Oli Winterbottom, Adam Turner and Joe Capener to seal a well-earned victory.

Winterbottom added three goals and Merrett one, which sent his points total for the club through the 300 mark. Liam Ferrier was on target just once with the boot for the Eels.

FULL REPORT

The Bristol All Golds came out on top of a hard, physical encounter with the Brentwood Eels at Lockleaze to end a five match losing sequence with a 40-18 win. Scrum half Callum Merrett crossed midway through the second half to reach 300 points for the club – the first player to do so in its seven years of existence.

The match was won in the last ten minutes as three All Golds tries emphasised their greater skill level and attacking shape and sealed a precious win.

The home side defended well for the most part, throwing three and four men into the tackle to stop the Eels who possessed size right across the field, but the All Golds were still vulnerable on their goal-line as the Eels’ centre Ollie Strange grabbed a hat-trick of tries, two of which were from close range.

The All Golds’ scores were shared across the backline with only Jermarie Chatham missing out despite having a number of chances all of which were foiled by Callum Whitcombe who put in a fine performance at the back for the Eels.

The home side’s injury woes, continued however, with Eric Davidson limping off the field with an ankle injury with barely 30 seconds gone but his replacement, Carl Thompson, put in a strong performance.

With the All Golds desperate for the win to strengthen their position in the race for the Plate competition, and the Eels looking to do the double over their opponents, the game started at a fierce pace with both sides looking to win the physical battle.

After eight minutes of tough, hard rugby league the All Golds took the lead as Tom Baxter smashed his way through defenders to the line for a score by the posts. Oli Winterbottom added the goal for a 6-0 lead.

Chatham then went close, being forced into touch as he tried to beat Whitcombe on the outside. But from the next play, the Eels struck as Ollie Strange found space round the outside and raced 20 metres for an unconverted try.

The All Golds looked to hit back though an Eels error from a wickedly bouncing Winterbottom kick came to nothing and it was the Eels who scored next.

The All Golds conceded a penalty for obstruction and the Eels immediately split them down the middle with Harry Creed showing pace and strength to score from halfway. Liam Ferrier added the goal to give the Eels a 10-4 lead with a quarter of the game gone.

The All Golds’ reply was immediate as the Eels misjudged the restart and conceded a play-the-ball in good field position. Then, at the second time of asking, Winterbottom sent Leon Atherton over in the corner.

The conversion was missed and the scores remained level at 10-10.

The All Golds had the upper hand now. Baxter drove their next attack forward and Chatham took the ball deep into Eels’ territory, but nothing came of the move as Josh Fitgerald’s pass went behind Atherton and into touch.

They were not so wasteful on their next meaningful attack as Winterbottom produced a sublime offload and Will Armour showed impressive speed to race away and beat Whitcombe for a fine try.

The sides changed ends with the All Golds clinging on to a 14-10 lead which evaporated just four minutes into the second period as Whitcomb’s scruffy offload was turned into points by Strange from close range. Ferrier couldn’t convert and the scores remained tied at 14-14.

Now the Eels had the momentum and pressed the home line but two excellent catches from Atherton defused successive Eels attacks before the All Golds struck twice in a five minute spell to gain a vital two-score lead for the first time in the game.

Sam Gilder collected the first score after a comedy of errors. An dropped ball on the first tackle gave the home side a scrum in midfield and immediately, Merrett put in a kick for Chatham to use his pace and chase, but Whitcome read the danger and regathered the ball.

However, he then lost it in Chatham’s tackle, Merrett picked up the loose ball and sent Gilder racing over an undefended line.

The Eels had a chance to hit back immediately but Merrett was on hand to tackle Callum Tootill into touch.

From the resulting possession, the All Golds attacked and Tega Rume-Tabiowo made a superb break and offloaded to Merrett supporting inside. The scrum half joyfully ran in under the posts to bring his points total for the club to 300. He then added the extras to make it 302 and give his side a 24-14 lead.

With thirteen minutes to go, the Eels managed a response. After Adam Turner had foiled a dummy half sneak by Matthew Tootill by stealing the ball, the Eels received back-to-back penalties and Strange completed his hat-trick from close range.

Again, the score went unconverted, but the All Golds’ 24-18 lead set up a potentially enthralling final ten minutes.

The All Golds had other ideas and stepped up the pressure. Atherton fielded a bomb and made good yards upfield before a penalty gave the home side field position from where Winterbottom sliced through to score. He added the goal to extend his side’s lead to a more comfortable 30-18.

Six minutes later, Atherton snapped up an interception to set up the move which ended when Turner darted over from dummy half five metres from the line. Again Winterbottom was on target with the boot and, at 36-18 with only a couple of minutes remaining, the points were safe.

With the final play of the game, Joe Capener forced his way over for an unconverted score and the All Golds could celebrate a well-deserved victory that takes them above Eastern Rhinos in the table and sets up a mouthwatering clash with the Rhinos in Colchester next week.

MatchStats

Teams:

ALL GOLDS: Oli Winterbottom; Leon Atherton, Will Armour, Joe Capener, Jay Chatham; Josh Fitzgerald, Callum Merrett (Capt); Tom Baxter, Adam Turner, Eric Davidson; Luke Davies, Rob Davies; Tega Rume-Tabiowo. INTERCHANGE: Sam Gilder, Olly Edge, Dan Short, Carl Thompson.  18^th Player: Luis Rowe

SCORERS:

Tries: Baxter (8), Atherton (26), Armour (34), Gilder (54), Merrett (59), Winterbottom (71), Turner (77), Capener (79).

Goals: Winterbottom 3 from 7, Merrett 1 from 1.

EELS: Callum Whitcombe; Ryan Whitcombe, Georgie Treffers, Oliver Strange, Callum Tootill; Tomas Scarsbrook, Liam Ferrier; Euan Tiernan, Matthew Tootill, Jamie Impey; Connor Perry, Matt Jarman; Harry Creed (Capt). INTERCHANGE: Luca Tedesco, Finley Margetts, Harry Crellin, Anthony Sherwood (not used).

SCORERS:

Tries: Strange (13, 44, 67), Creed (23).

Goals:  Ferrier 1 from 4.

Scoring sequence: 6-0, 6-4, 6-10, 10-10, 14-10, (HT), 14-14, 18-14, 24-14, 24-18, 30-18, 36-18, 40-18, (FT)

Penalties: All Golds 9-8 Eels

Referee: Peter Parker (RFL)

All Golds Player of the Match: There were several players that caught the eye, notably Tom Baxter and Leon Atherton, but Tega Rume-Tabiowo’s workrate and defensive effort stood out as he helped his team to a big win. He also made the break to lay on Callum Merrett’s try which took the scrum half to 300 points for the All Golds.