RUGBY: Worthing captain James Arthur's weekly column (December 10)

WE always knew we'd be able to beat one of the big teams. It was just a matter of piecing together a full 80 minutes of composed rugby and with the motivation of comments on Rosslyn's website leading up to the game, we had a good feeling about the weekend.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Dec 2009, 12:43 BST
Updated 8th Jun 2018, 01:09 BST

The team did not see as many changes this week as in the past, with a good continuity being kept throughout the training sessions.

Greg Sullivan made his first start for the first XV on the wing to replace unavailable Joe Govett. It was also pleasing to see Jack Maslen return on the bench after recovering from injury.

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Rosslyn Park sent one of their full-strength sides down, to play us on a dark and wet day. The conditions continued to worsen throughout the match, with near darkness as the game ended.

Both teams played a defensive game, with the running rugby kept to a minimum. Any opportunity to move the ball was quickly cut off by quality tackling or handling errors from both teams.

This is much the state of play for all teams across the leagues, with the best defensive records securing the top spots.

On occasions, this may lead to a dull game, but this can not be said for Saturday, despite being a game that remained at 3-3 for 76 minutes.

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However, with two minutes left we gave a way a penalty to go 6'“3 down.

With 90 seconds of play left, we dug deep and the strong team character came through.

After 13 phases or so of Worthing play, the ball went out to fly-half and man of the match, Ben Dudley, on the blind side to score out wide.

The support from the crowd and the celebration from the team rang through the ground.

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Rugby is a tough and bruising game, that we all love, but it is moments like that, which truly make it worth playing.

We'd like to thank the support of the crowd throughout the game, which helped to lift and motivate us all.

This was a well-deserved victory and is as equally rewarding for all the coaches and staff behind the scenes, that continually support us come rain or shine.

The challenge will now be to back up our two good wins with another victory in a difficult trip to Henley.

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We hope that as many of you can come and join us by the river for what will be a tough battle for both sides.

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