Fixture

The Old Firm have been handed a tough set of fixtures to start the season, and have already played the top two from last season, who are already the current leaders in Division 1 East Central this year. On top of that, there were also away games against a handy St Joseph’s team - played yesterday - and the next away game is against one of the pre-season promotion favourites, Glamorgan Wanderers. Although losing both games and this one, Mount have showed a competitive edge throughout to challenge in the first two games and finish strongly in this one to score a fourth try in the last minutes which gained a third consecutive bonus point.

An early 40 metre penalty by home outside half Jacob Chilcott gave St Joseph’s a 3-0 lead. Some of Mount’s passing, kicking and tackling was not accurate enough which the home team capitalised on with two tries and a conversion to move into a 17-0 lead. After a 35 metre penalty was just missed, the Mount forwards started to monopolise the ball and took play into the St Jo’s 22 on a couple of occasions, but knock-ons gave the home team the chance to clear. An attack just before half time looked promising, but a long pass in midfield was intercepted by the home wing who run 70 metres for a try under the posts which was converted to make it 24-0.

A turnover from the kick off to the second half saw St Jo’s move the ball to the narrow side with some neat passing to put the home No.8 in space for a try in the corner, Chilcott’s conversion attempt hitting a post. Forward pressure on the home line led to a drive over by prop forward Tom Harper which reduced the Old Firm’s deficit to 29-5, but a dropped pass in midfield was seized upon by St Jo’s No.8 who run 40 metres for his second try, this time under the posts, which Chilcott converted to make it 36-5. The Old Firm were showing good spirit and competing for everything, and after play was taken down to the home line, a scrum was taken from a penalty award near the posts, which led to a pushover try for No.8 Kriss Sanders and a conversion by full back Jack Roberts to make it 36-12 after 63 minutes. A fracas, which was out of being with the game, resulted in a player from each side being dismissed, home outside half Chilcott kicking the 51 metre penalty to take his side’s lead up to 39-12. A home forward was yellow carded from the restart and a penalty awarded to Mount. The kick to the corner was followed by several drives to the home line which finished with a third touchdown, scored by centre Alex Hughes, which full back Roberts converted with an excellent kick from near the touchline to make it 39-19 after 75 minutes. Shortly after, Chilcott slotted over a 25 metre penalty to make it 42-19, but the last few minutes belonged to the Old Firm as they set up another period of pressure close-in which resulted in a penalty 10 metres out. Second row Jarrod Parfitt took it quickly and from the ruck he set up, the ball was quickly moved wide to full back Roberts who run in unopposed from 15 metres out to score Mount’s fourth try of the afternoon, which gained a bonus point, and took his personal tally up to 11 after he also kicked the conversion from midway out.

Although a defeat for the Old Firm, the team were competitive throughout and once again scored over 20 points for the third consecutive game, and got a bonus point for scoring 4 tries, which took the try total for the season up to 10. The team is scoring enough points to win games and is competitive, but it is the defensive organisation which must be improved to cut down the number of points being conceded.