With their top-four position in the League cemented before the kick-off, the Centurions appeared to lose focus against a St Ives team who only had to keep things simple and disciplined to run out easy victors. In complete contrast to recent weeks, the Centurions stormed into an early lead. After just five minutes Sam Beton pounced on a defensive mistake to dive over in the corner. St Ives responded with a converted try of their own before Toby Sweeney out-smarted and out-muscled the Roosters defence for a great solo try, converted by Alex Powdrell. On 29 minutes, the always impressive Alex Curtis smashed through for a third try. Minutes later, a superb up-and-under from Scott Clewlow was almost caught in the in-goal area for a fourth try. By half-time, the game had slipped through the Centurions’ fingers, too Two converted tries in the dying moments of the first half, saw St Ives enter the break with an 18-14 lead … and they never looked back. Orchestrated by their creative, streetwise half-backs, the Roosters controlled every aspect of the game. By the hour mark, they led by 42 points to 14. Whilst no-one could question their application and backbone, the more desperate the Centurions became to draw themselves back into contention, the more unforced errors they made. St Ives were content to manage the game by keeping it simple and kicking long on the final tackle to gain field position. A converted try for the Roosters in the final minute was well-deserved and brought the curtain down on a thoroughly disappointing day for St Albans. Club Chairman, Andy Lake was philosophical about the defeat: “every team has off days and today was one that we’ll try hard to forget. After the first quarter, nothing seemed to click. The effort was there for all to see but the lack of focus on basic skills cost us dearly. Let’s hope we’ve got that out of our system and we can quickly return to better performances and winning ways.” The Centurions are at home to Hemel Stags in the semi-final of the cup on Saturday 29th May, 2.30pm start. Final score: St Albans Centurions 14 St Ives Roosters 48 Sat. 22nd June, 2.30pm k.o. at Toulmin Drive, St Albans Comments are closed.
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