Greenwich 32-4 Giants

Guildford Giants faced another tough fixture as they travelled away to Greenwich Admirals. Being their third game in the season, giants were unsure of what they would be up against, knowing only that the admirals were a well established club who have been scoring high points in their opening games. Buoyed by the fact that they had 17 players to choose from together with dry playing conditions Giants hopes were high for an expansive, free flowing game of Rugby league.

The defence was tested for the opening 10 minutes with Giants really needing to be strong from the constant physical attacking from the admirals. Despite conceding an early try after 10 minutes, Giants regrouped and were able to launch some good, strong attacking play and thwarting the admirals in their attempts to score with solid defensive duties. Adam Cox, Alex Maguire and Brain Stokes all were maintaining their positions as club top tacklers with spirited defensive work. With the Admirals gaining momentum and looking as though they would be next to score and deep in their own half, Tom Eisenhuth beat his marker, deftly floating the ball to Gareth Blackstaffe turner, who with a trademark hand off released the ball to the ever willing Phil Pullen who with good pace and strength covered 40 yards just being tackled 15 yards from the line. The positive play though was rewarded when two minutes later, again back in their half and again defending Doug Lawrence showed great vision as he opportunistically intercepted a pass and ran the length of the field to score. The Admirals style at this point was becoming very fluid and they were moving the ball along the line very well. They scored shortly after through some very direct, strong running utilising many of their strong backs. The Giants though closed the half trailing12 - 4 although with strong periods of both defence and especially in attack from David Lozano and Ian Dodge who gained precious yardage and requiring strength to push them closer to the line.

The second half continued as the first ended with the Giants defence needing to maintain strength in defence. Man of the Match for the Giants, Chris Mathers worked tirelessly in defence and always seemed available for the offload. A short yet strong passage of play saw Stokes go over, though the ref deemed the ball to be held up so it was back to continued defensive work. Giants were warned of the increasing number of high tackles and a high tackle from Adam Smith meant he was sin binned for 10 minutes. Giants were then reduced to 11 men when Doug Lawrence was sin binned a minute later for questioning the refereeing decisions.
The pressure from Admirals paid off when an already tired Giants team reduced to eleven men seemed powerless as the admirals scored two tries in quick succession.
The Admirals ran in two late tries and closed the game at 32 – 4.

This match was very defensive game for the giants. Greenwich Admirals were deserving of their victory. A strong, team with high fitness levels and themselves played some excellent rugby. The Giants however, conceded too many needless penalties and will need to continue to work on their discipline at training. Giants though must take heart from some spirited individual performances and encouraging passages of play.