Britton delighted with big win

Patrick Corlett • Published 10 Dec 2009 16:31 0 Comments

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Rugby

WINDSOR sent out a message to the rest of the league as they inflicted Witney's first defeat of the season on them in Southern Counties North.

The Home Park outfit triumphed 11-9 at the league leaders on Saturday and head coach Paul Britton believes they were full value for it although they had to wait until late in the game for the only, and match winning, try from Mike Darren.

Britton said: "We were pleased with the result, that goes without saying.

"We approached the game with the feeling they were beatable but you have to be hungry and up for it and that's what paid off on Saturday.

"A lot of it came down to how strong we were defensively and at the set pieces. In fact, it was one of four scrums that we took against the head that we scored the winning try from.

"The boys did deserve it because we've had a lot of debatable decisions over the last few weeks which has cost us.

"It's revitalised our season from a points point-of-view but we have felt that we've played the better rugby at Swindon and Grove. It's not necessarily that we've got our season back on track but we are hoping that our league position will start reflecting our performances. The only poor performance we have put in so far was at Slough."

In a tight contest at Witney, the conditions gradually got worse throughout the afternoon on Saturday and the two teams traded penalties after James Driscoll had kicked the visitors into an early lead.

Windsor were trailing 9-6 with seven minutes to go before the crucial moment in the game, a scrum for the hosts just five metres from their line and the pack, led by man of the match and hooker Matt Sancto, exerted pressure and took the ball against the head with Darren popping up with the try.

At the death, Witney had a difficult kick to claim the win but it was missed and Windsor earned a hard fought and deserved victory which sets them up nicely going into Saturday's home game with Amersham & Chiltern who are one of three teams five points clear of Windsor at the top of the table.

Britton commented: "Amersham will be a tough contest but we are unbeaten at home and they will have to work hard to take that away from us.

"There's a good spirit there in the squad and that two points against Witney was important because we want to look at it in the New Year and see where we are, if we have a chance.

"If we get the right result on Saturday and against Beaconsfield the week after we will be in a better position to assess our ambitions."

This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 11 Dec 09

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