James taught Goodricke how to put possession into points putting five tries past their opponents to lead the Spring League.
James started the brighter of the two colleges going into an early 12-0 lead. Alex Muntus and Tom Prifti added to their try scoring tallies with two well taken tries.
However, this bright start faded and Goodricke came back into the tie finding themselves on the James try line a number of times but were unable to convert this superiority into points.
James, who had gone quiet before the end of the half, came out for the second, the stronger of the two sides. James’ pack in particular came to the fore.
From a set-piece line out, a textbook rolling maul saw back rower Phil Clayton go over; Captain Benji Brummitt added the extras.
Their superiority in the forward line allowed James to suck in their opponents around the ruck area. When the ball eventually went wide to the James backs, Anthony Matthews drew his opposite man before feeding Matt Collins who raced through to score.
Goodricke responded physically, their backs Hugh Draycott and George Davis made ground in midfield. But, just as their attack was enveloping it was squashed out. Phil Scott ran on to a ball off the blindside of a scrum. He raced through before giving the pass to full-back Muntus who scored his second of the match.
Goodricke were to have the final say in the match, spurred on by Captain Alex McDonald. His troops soldiered up the field, before he muscled over to score under the posts, from which Chris Smith knocked over the conversion.
Goodricke made use of the superior numbers , as ‘Coco’ of James was sin binned for continued infringement. Alex Summers outmuscled his opposing man to score from close range and his conversion was the last action of the match.
Goodricke President Chris Smith felt his side ‘had played some good rugby’, and was pleased that they’d got some deserved ‘points on the board’. James Captain Benji Brummitt was happy with the performance but pin pointed some areas which the team would work on to eliminate the first half’s sloppiness.
Vision MOTM: Matt Collins