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A serious injury to Exeter forward, Charlie Robbin halted this 22-minute old game in it’s stride and eventually ended the match prematurely.
Robbin broke his leg after being tackled when kicking the ball away and landed awkwardly. He was unable to be moved due to the serious nature of his injury and as the ambulance took an hour to arrive at the ground, both coaches agreed not to play on and the 20-0 result stood.
UWIC were completely in control and justified their 100% record this season. They took the lead after only two minutes. Alex Ballard kicked an accurate bomb on the fifth tackle which Ieuan Davies superbly caught and grounded. Ballard converted.
It was 10-0 on six minutes after Ross Olney palmed the ball off to Ballard who dodged his way through the Exeter defence to score.
Exeter’s only real chance was in the eighth minute after Ali Taylor intercepted a pass, but his 40-metre run was stopped just a few metres from the line allowing the UWIC defence to regroup and successfully defend the resulting pressure.
Stu McReynolds increased UWIC’s lead on 16 minutes, while an excellent move involving Olney, James Thacker and Lee Drabble allowed Davies to run in for his second on 19 minutes. Ballard converted both.
Both teams thought about playing a 30-minute second half following the
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ambulance taking Robbin to hospital but with light failing and the players needing time to re-warm up, this re-arranged round three match didn’t restart.
“We were never going to come back from this score line with so little time to play,” said Exeter coach, Jason Grant. “UWIC were playing brilliantly and all the players agreed to let the game go.”
UWIC will win the BUSA Premier Wales and West in they beat Glamorgan University in their next match at home on February 8th. The battle for second place goes on and could go down to the last match of the season when Exeter host Glamorgan.
UWIC: James Thacker, Matt Johns, Aiden Batten, Stu McReynolds, Ieuan Davies, Alex Ballard, Mark Kinnard, Ryan Steel, Lee Drabble, Pat Howell, Gareth Lewis, Gareth Jones, Ross Olney. Subs: John Trick, Hywel Davies, Owain Roberts, Dewi Scourfield.
Tries: Davies (2,19), Ballard (6), McReynolds (16). Goals: Ballard 2/4
Exeter: Jack Seymour, Rob Lunnen, James Hunt, Charlie Robbin, Rich Robinson, Matt Wesley, Joe Collins, Pete Russell, Nick Walker, Angus Booth, Richard Hurtley, Ali Taylor, Ollie Francis. Subs: Edward Payne, Mike Harris, Andrew Sage, Gareth Tudor.
Referee: Lee Roberts (Aberystwyth)
Man of the Match: Alex Ballard (UWIC)
Article by Ian Golden
18 Jan 2006
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