Spartacus 'B' : 27   V   Karlstad : 27 

Another away trip for the Karlstad boys, this weekend and let’s face it if we want rugby at this rate away games is all we will probably get. But it felt right to fulfill the away leg of the Spartacus game as they are to date our only home game. But still 21 players from Karlstad travelling and not one of them had to be begged or convinced to do so.

However when we arrived it seems that Spartacus forgot they had a game as they had circa 5 players at the clubhouse, but after a little NFL style draft trading of our reserves and a few rugby league players and a good selection of their A-squad Spartacus managed to rattle together a formidable team. If anything they were going to have a glaring weight advantage at scrum time.

We had a few changes to the line-up with David Hanley making his debut at inside centre and Sefton going at number 12, the other back line change was me moving out to the wing with roffe slipping in at number 15 and Tony geddes retaining his place on the other wing. We also had originally 2 backline reserves in Johan Hasslevall and Roger Nordin and Eric Ceder out injured. Roger did graciously opt to play for Spartacus along with the King Thierry Durand and our new oldboy Magnus in order to ensure the game got underway.

The pack were also double forced into considerable changes as Eamonn MacCallion was away and Tobbe Elstrom was a no show meaning the mantle fell to  19 year old Björn Larsson who has being learning the craft of prop for all of 4 months. He was ably assisted by the legend Aaron devitt and Herr Versatile Lars Olaf Leander. The rest of the pack was Daniel Svensson, Tervell, Robin, Ragge and young Matthias.

We started pretty well and Spartacus made a few early mistakes dropping the balls and handing us back easy possession and the first real opportunity of the game fell to me with a penalty 30 out after my kicking session with Dave I felt I had got rid of the nasty habits but again I went in to my shell and made a mistake in lining up the ball and found the strike went a metre right of the post it is my destiny, very capable training kicker but put me in front of 1 man and his lame dog and I cant remember what the ball looks like. After that we broke again with a sharp ball from tobbe and quick hands from the backline saw sefton gain around 15 metres and Dave to follow on with another 5 only to be held up 5 out and we had the ball turn over and Spartacus relieved the pressure with a kick to touch. It was apparent early that the backline was working well, marcus looked at ease and was making spot on decision after spot on decision, Sefton and David were looking like long lost twin brothers with how they were combining and have the makings of a lethal centre pairing with that speed and ball skills. I was looking forward to getting a few balls on the back of them and wasn’t disappointed getting set up by Dave for a decent run but saw a wall in front of me so opted to go back inside and take my first slap of the day. But for all the running as is the form with the mighty Karlstad we got our first try via some fine pack work and in the end it was Johan Tervell to touch down.

We kicked on again and Marcus and myself did a wee training ground move we had been practicing that nearly came off, he kicked ahead superbly I chased but unfortunately the ball took a low bounce and the try was not to be we did force a line out. The Spartacus pack were starting to stamp their authority on the game and they were using their big lads for gaining the metres and it was wearing our boys down a little, in saying that there was some sterling defensive work being done at the time and if anything it must be good for our coaches to realize there isn’t any shrinking violets in our team. Spartacus eventually replied to our score and we were back on level pegging. But we responded well and a great break from David Hanley looked set to put us right back on top but the touch judge decided Mr Hanley had a foot in touch. Not to worry Mr Hanley was about to pen his Karlstad account all of 5 minutes later a great pass from Marcus after sucking in 2 men and sefton quick hands to David, he had work to do and managed to create an opening and run an angle to corner flag where the Spartacus defender “accidentally” landed on Dave’s neck with his knees (make sense later). So we got to half time 5 points to the good

The second half saw us grab a quick try and if my tally is correct it was Daniel Svensson who forced his way over. But this was also a turning point for us, Spartacus had switched up their pack and Aaron was up against a prop who was determined to collapse the scrum at every given opportunity, which is unnecessary at best, especially as his opponent was in his late 40’s and tipping the scales at least 20 kilos less, it would have been nice to see how he fared against a far stronger and more experienced prop like Eamonn (who’s experience would have made a difference on the day), but anyway the spatacus pack did start to dominate and were creating great running opportunities for their back line, our backline didn’t do too much wrong all day but in this 15 minute period we were at fault for a few missed tackles or just simply poor tackles. But credit where it’s due Spartacus were playing very well and that good play was rewarded with a good try. So Within the space of 10 minutes we saw our lead turned into a 4 point deficit when we went to sleep and Spartacus took a quick penalty and I found myself outnumbered 4 to one. Spartacus just didn’t relent and it must be said there was a sinister element creeping in with two Spartacus players blatantly throwing fists in a game that would not have been described as ill tempered, plus it was borderline stupidity when you have no real reserves and are holding a lead it also prompted Thierry to rightly remove the Spartacus jersey and opt not to play on for them. We went through a terrible period for the pack where they won virtually every scrum and managed to turn over 9 balls straight, this pressure was rewarded with a converted try and a well taken penalty.

Now the part that’s worth writing about, we didn’t drop our heads we didn’t concede we got up dusted ourselves of and went at them, within 5 minutes we had closed the gap by 5 point when lars olof leander crossed the line and this was to me the most needless act of the day, his tackler decided to lay into him after he crossed the line, and as they say no good deed goes unpunished we kept at them. With clock ticking down we were called into defense again and some sterling work by all saw the ball back in our possession and low and behold robin emerged as a stand in centre where he released the ball to me, roffe was coming outside and Spartacus all stepped to mark the pass and simply created a huge gap for me to run in to and cross the line. Whereby I was met by the exact same “accidental” knee as David Hanley was on the receiving end of first half, I saw the culprit out the corner of my eye steaming in and opted to take his clatter in the back as opposed to my head, unjustifiable, when has anyone seen a saving tryline tackle knees first, but I resisted my urge for retribution but refuse to accept the excuse twice in one game is not an accident. It was a cowardly way to stop a try and could seriously injure someone if they were caught on the head.

Long story short David Hanley was the man of the moment filling my inept boots and stepping up to convert from a tough angle, saving our skin and allowing us some solace in a game that we both deserved to lose at times and deserved to win at times. Good effort by all.

Standout performances in the pack would go to Danny Svensson, ragge and Lolla, Roffe deserves a special mention at full back, he was superb under the highball plus his willingness to take the ball back in to contact and his strength are major plus points, I for one am more than happy to be a winger with a fully fit Mr. Jacobssen playing at number 15. David Hanley had a very good debut and seemed at ease outside Sefton. But my man of the Match is Marcus Nyren, as a number ten he has blossomed this season and seems to grow more and more confident in his very obvious rugby ability, yesterday was a text book out half display and not one wrong decision made, so my powers of deduction say if the mans job is to make decision and he made the right ones all day long then no one did their job better than Maka yesterday.

I will say this, it was a little disappointing to see Spartacus the instigators of so many unsavory incidents in what was otherwise a fair and tough game between two clubs that have the utmost of respect for each other. Such is life, our door will always be open to any club who are willing to make the trip to see us and we look forward to our next encounter, maybe in division one or even the premier, who knows :)

We do wish Spartacus every success for the rest of the season and as a club we are very impressed with their battling efforts so far in the premier league and hope that they continue their position in the top tier of Swedish rugby.

One other thing if I as a man am quick enough to criticize the ref than I must be equally quick to compliment, I thought the ref had improved tenfold and in my opinion was having a near flawless game up until the 60 minute and I imagine he opted to not over react to the fisticuffs. Well played ref.