Sat 7 Mar 2026, 14:00
Yes, that was a difficult afternoon on The Common. Billed as a thrilling local derby match, it turned out to be one way traffic against the Nomads.
Although the squad was pleased to welcome back some familiar faces (notably Hold and Davis) and to incorporate some young talent (such as Hallgate, Ward, and Cutler…) it was also going to need some strong on-field leadership and really good organisation to face off against a powerful Devizes 1st XV…
Things started badly with Devizes - playing uphill in the first half - scoring very early; another score followed and it felt uncomfortable for the men of Marlborough.
But out of nowhere came a terrific burst of aggression and front-foot rugby that saw the day’s vice-Captain and winger, Ali Edington, streak down the far side for a great score! It was neatly converted by fly-half, Aaron Hold, and things started to look up…
We then lost our powerful Number 8, James Harden, to injury. Hooker and Captain, Ed Mills, moved to the back row, replaced in the front row by the venerable Adam Whatley. Just need to keep our shape…
When, just a few minutes later, we lost Mills to a nasty high tackle, we had to reorganise again… Harden returned to the field, but was not in-form. Notwithstanding this enforced shuffling of players, our scrum stood up extremely well and the boys can be proud of themselves - props Bradley Whatley and Frank Diggins put in immense shifts and the youthful second rowers and flankers (who were Colts last year) Luke Hallgate, Johnny Ward, Max Petitt, and Otto Cutler acquitted themselves admirably - especially at ruck-time, when they showed themselves to be pretty fearless…
In the backs, the scrum-half / fly-half pairing of Ratu Vuniivi and Hold was strong, but we had insufficient ball to use properly. Centres ‘Rustee’ Kalouniviti and Inosi Vueti had little opportunity to link up properly with our super speedy wingers Edington and Max Khawaja, and even though full-back, Dylan Davis, brought some Nomads experience to the team, we never really got going… Our bench was used up very rapidly and we lost a talisman in Mills when we could least afford it…
Devizes were bigger and better at the breakdown and had a tighter and consistently ‘go forward’ passing game that linked their back row and running backs to much better effect than we were able to do… Our defence was not good enough - too many ‘first up’ tackles missed. Our line-out was only 50% successful and, whilst the scrums were strong, we failed to make the most of the ball we got…
It was a frustrating 7-31 at halftime and a painful 7-64 at the end of a challenging 80 minutes for the boys. Chins up, however, it wasn’t all bad and there were some flashes of really good rugby. And let’s be honest, if England can’t win, we shouldn’t be too hard on ourselves…
Super Saturday next weekend means no homegrown rugby on The Common. The Nomads go again on Saturday 21 March - away against the Melksham 1st XV.
