Finchley fill their boots in Watford!!

The atmosphere in the Finchley camp prior to kick off was one of determination, with Finchley keen to prove to the home side and other teams in the league that they mean business.

This good preparation work was slightly undone in the first 15 minutes with Finchley perhaps giving the opposition to much respect. Fullerians scoring 2 early penalties to make the score 6-0. The home team then went on to miss another penalty chance and some good Finchley defence stopped them getting over for a try. Finchley soaked up this barrage well and this helped build their confidence.

It then became evident where the weaknesses in the Fullerians team lied and it was very pleasing to see the men in red and white identify this. Drew Williams was keen to send Victor Coker up the middle of the pitch with the rugby league convert making yards every time, this accompanied with some good runs by Tufft and Moore meant Finchley were able to build on front foot ball.

This confidence then materialised into points, with Dalton and Collingwodd putting pressure on in midfield to then offload the ball to Tufft who sent Joe Mclatchie flying off down the wing, Mclatchie drew the winger and passed to Dan Young who miraculously stayed in play to offload to Tufft and then to Coker for Finchleys 1st try, Tufft converted.

Finchley then absorbed some pressure from the Fullerians team but managed to withstand a late onslaught with Tom McAuliffe and Mclatchie putting in some bigs hits to deny the men from Watford.

Half time 6-7

The 2nd half started with Finchley playing some outstanding rugby, with offloads and yards being made all over the park. This led to Fullerians conceding 2 penalties in short succession which Tufft duly slotted over the posts. 13-6.

Finchley then went into their shells and allowed Fullerians back into the game with the opposition hooker capitalising on some mistakes to go over in the corner, conversion missed 13-11.

What followed this scare was some of the best rugby Finchley have played all season, with the forwards making some good runs through Manny Tobin and Bryden Fraser. This gave the Finchley backs a great platform to attack the Fullerians midfield. This resulted in the next try of the game with Williams putting a deft kick over the defence and which Padriag Lynch charged down for Tufft to dive on the ball and score, Tufft converted. 20-11.

If this try didn’t give Finchley the confidence they needed then the next one certainly did. Williams giving the ball to Moore who made a break down the Fullerians left and then fed Coker, he then fed the ball back to Williams who rounded off a fantastic passage of play by offloading to Moore for Finchley to crash over, Tufft converted. 27-11.

Finchley knew this try had killed off the Fullerians team and a fightback looked to be over, although Fullerians did come back with a late try and a penalty.

Final Score 27-20.

This was an extremely pleasing performance from the men in red and white with all 18 working hard on and off the ball for 80 minutes. This effort was optimised by the commitment of James Collingwood who’s hard work and ferocious tackling took its toll with the No. 7 leaving Fullerians in an ambulance. But not to worry the Finchley man has just damaged some ligaments so will be fine for the Xmas jumper social!!

On a day where the opposition clearly thought they would turn over the men from N12 this was a great effort, with stand out performances coming from Tufft, Moore and Coker. But man of the Match goes to Drew Williams who controlled the game throughout with aplomb.

Next week sees Finchley welcome Datchworth to Summers Lane in a must win game before the Xmas break.