Deepings RUFC v Peterborough Vets

The Martyn Elmer Retirement Match Saturday 3rd November 2012 Deepings 32 Peterborough 10

Scrum Half Martyn Elmer

The first half was very one sided whereby Deepings enjoyed a complete glut of ball from both scrum and line out with the backs doing their normal thing and making holes all over the place, enjoying some good quick ball from the pack. A lively back row of Mark Rogers at No8 with Andy Meikle and Gary Payne doing some damaging drives created lots of space and this was rewarded with 4 tries all from the backs.

The best try of the afternoon came from a great catch and drive from Andy Meikle. The ball was mauled and driven about 10 yards from the Peterborough 22 then with a break off the back and a series of forwards taking the ball on into a quick couple of rucks then out to Chris Towers who dived over under the posts.

Peterborough got one back after some serious loss of concentration when they acquired a rare ball from a ruck outside the Deepings 22 and came back into the pack at pace, a bad missed tackle led to them running towards the Deepings line and after a quick ruck their big tight head went over.

By half time the score was still emphatically in the Deepings favour at 22-5. A number of changes were made at half time and despite some good
drives from the Deepings changed back row, Peterborough managed to turn over a ball and they began to dominate more at scrum and line out.
Peterborough clawed back into the game having scored another try via a turn over. However, Deepings came back again scoring another try from
Chris Towers who again played a blinder at Fly half and man of the match, doing a great job by hand and boot.

Vets Captain Paul Rogers said after the match, "The game yesterday was marked by a fantastic turn out and easily the best we have had over a number of years. It was a nice headache to have in trying to give each of the players a game. I had about 25 players to choose from so thanks to each of them.

The final score of 27-5 was a fair reflection of the tide of play. A game played in very good spirit and was refereed very well by a newly
qualified younger referee. A footnote the ref has promised to do the Martin Tebbs Memorial Match on the 1st December as he is recovering from cancer himself and is delighted to support the match!

Many thanks to all you guys who turned up yesterday to support and celebrate Martyn Elmer's final game as a Police Officer and who now after 25 years, retires from Cambridgeshire Constabulary. I especially thank Martyn and his wife Caroline who put on a lovely buffet and supplied some liquid refreshment for the guys after the game. Well done Martyn and I know that his retirement will not stop him from playing even more than before, well done to you.
We had a great night as well... thank you to the guys for staying to enjoy a beer!"

Yhe Vet's next play on the 17th November away at Thorney 13:00pm kick off. Followed by England v Australia at the Deepings Clubhouse, live on the big screen.

Report by P Rogers