Clifton 55 - 18 Worthing

Clifton brought the curtain down on a highly successful season with an exhilarating performance which ended in a 9 try demolition of visiting Worthing.   They finished in a creditable fifth position playing some excellent 15 man rugby which far exceeded the targets set by the coaching staff at the beginning season.   With this game the equivalent of a dead rubber in the Davis Cup both sides went into this game determined to enjoy themselves giving the ball plenty of air time.   It was a strange first half with Clifton domination the set play forward exchanges but the visitors controlling both possession and territory.   Clifton however gave Worthing a lesson in how to take your scoring chances before the break,   The game started at a tremendous pace with Clifton’s defence being fully tested.   The home sides first attack came after 7 minutes when following a scrum fly half Barry Reeve looped pass enabled centre Gregg Setherton to break through in midfield before chipping over the defence and winning the race to the ball for an unconverted try.   Within minutes Worthing struck back when Clifton were not penalised for not rolling away at a maul and full back Matt McLean put the ball between the posts.   Clifton’s second visit to visitors territory was after 14 minutes when scum half Matt Britton took a quick penalty making 40 metres before releasing winger Sam Kent on a clear run to the line for a try Reeves converted..   Again Worthing quickly when they put the ball through several phases but unable to open up the home defence their fly half Joe Govett struck an excellent angled drop goal.   In the 25th Minutes an excellent move off the back of a line out appeared to put Clifton over under the posts but the referee spotted an offence and awarded a scum to the visitors.   This was totally destroyed by the scrummaging power of the home side and as the visitors tried to prevent a score they offended  and the referee awarded a penalty try which Reeves converted.   The next try was also a result of forward power when lock Ben Glynn made run to the line but was just stopped short and from the resultant scrum No 8 John Levis went over for the try bonus point  with Reeves converting.   On the stroke of half time Govett produced a beautiful switch move with centre Greg Sullivan who went over unopposed with McLean adding extras.   Reeves received a nasty facial cut in this move which forced him to retire from the game with John Barnes replacing him,   Worthing had the better of the early second half exchanges with their excellent ball retention depriving Clifton of attacking chances.  The feisty Andy Bell inspired the home side’s defence during this period,   The visitors scored a deserved second try when wing Jack Maslen sprinted through a gap in the home defence to touch down after 46 minutes.   As the game went into the final quarter the visitors defensive effort totally evaporated as the added fitness of the home side enabled them to take total control and score 5 tries to take their tally for the season to 97.   On the hour a long blind side break from a scrum by Britton using winger Rob Viol as a foil ender with the scrum half scoring .   This was followed in the 67 minute with the forwards setting up a rampaging drive which ended with Glynn touching down for a try converted by Barnes.   From the restart Clifton struck again when after some good approach play flanker David Cook went over from 20 metres.   Britton scored his second in a similar style to his first with Barnes adding the extras.   Their then came a huge roar as Mark Regan came off the bench to make his Clifton debut.   There was more to come as a Clifton with almost the last action of the season produced a 10 man handling move which ended with leading try scorer Rob Viol going over for his 22nd try of the season  a club record in the National Leagues.

Last Updated ( Monday, 20 September 2010 )