Instonians continued their winning ways with a lively league win against Ophir on 20 November. Played on a fine day, but with a muddy pitch following the heavy rain mid-week, both side showed good skills to provide entertaining rugby.
When the two sides met in the league earlier in the season Inst had a fairly straight forward win against an inexperienced Ophir team. Despite the scoreline this was a much tougher match and Ophir have shown clear signs of progress in the intervening weeks. Unfortunately Ophir were hampered by the late cry off of some of their team and Instonians had to lend them four players to allow the fixture to be fulfilled.
Inst started forcefully and flanker Ryan Law was able to break clear for an unconverted try after just 2 minutes. Ophir were then able to mount some pressure of their own and it required determined tackling to keep them out. In the early minutes both teams found it hard to hang on to the ball in the muddy conditions. Simple handling errors cost both teams opportunities. But it was Instonians who found their rhythm as the team adjusted to a lot of changes in personnel since their last game. Ophir, on the other hand, found it difficult to maintain continuity, although they displayed good kicking skills, which forced Inst into retreat. The problem was that they lacked the ability to bring their back line into attacks through handling moves – which often meant that they went back to a kicking game which was not really able to exert consistent pressure. They had a reasonable line out and mauling game but were always under pressure in the scrums.
Instonians were able to mount fierce forward drives and then bring their speedy backs into action. This brought its reward through tries by winger Kadum Hassan and a second by Ryan Law. An excellent try by centre Michael Melville following a clean break from inside his own half and a thrilling run to score at the posts put Instonians in a commanding position on the stroke of half time.
The second half opened with Instonians 22-0 ahead. Ophir continued to contest the game and forced Inst back on many occasions, but a dropped ball allowed Instonians to hack ahead into the 22 and several waves of attack allowed big second row Robbie Alexander to drive over for an unconverted try. Substitute centre Jonny Spratt showed his speed to score two first class tries mid way through the half. The match ended fittingly when captain and flanker Brendan McKenna burst over for a well-deserved try. Once again the back row of Brendan, Ryan Law and number 8 Hayden Nightingale combined well in both defence and attack. Their powerful drives and good ball handling skills were particularly conspicuous. Ophir deserve credit for their determination and competitive spirit throughout the match.
