Fakenham secure a hard-fought league win over Woodbridge

Fakenham 22 Woodbridge 19

Fakenham moved up to sixth in the Counties 2 Eastern Counties standings with a hard-fought victory over Woodbridge at the Stringer Ground.

With Woodbridge having won three of their opening four fixtures, Fakenham knew they were in for a tough examination.

Whilst Fakenham started the game brightly and had the better of the territory, it was the away side who got on the scoreboard first with a converted try.

Woodbridge doubled their lead with another well-taken try as their impressive backs cut through again, followed by a successful conversion.

However, the home side did eventually make their control of the territory count, as outside-centre Murray Tindal crossed the line to reduce the deficit.

Bane-Young kicked two penalties to leave the score at 11-14 going into the break.

After the restart, a penalty on the Woodridge 10m line gave Fakenham the opportunity to level the game and Bane-Young slotted an impressive kick to tie things up.

Woodbridge fought back to regain their lead with a well-worked try that they failed to convert.

The five-point lead didn’t last long as Bane-Young split the posts with yet another successful penalty.

Fakenham pushed hard to retake the lead, but were kept out by an impressive Woodbridge defensive effort, until five minutes from the end of the game.

Scrum-half Luke Taylor, like all good 9s, took the credit for the hard work of his forwards and picked the ball from the base of the scrum before diving over the line.

Bane-Young was unable to add the extras

Woodbridge came straight back at Fakenham and were knocking on the door, attacking the try line with gusto, before giving away a penalty to relieve the pressure on the home side.

Fakenham took the opportunity to move down the pitch, but coughed up possession to give the away side one final chance.

In a frantic finish, Bane-Young stripped the ball and Fakenham were able to kick the ball dead to end an enthralling contest.

The Barsham Brewery Man of the Match this week went to scrum-half Luke Taylor, who worked tirelessly throughout the game and made a number of good tackles, topping it off with a try.

This weekend sees Fakenham travel to Colchester 2nds who top the table after five wins from as many games.