Plebs Secure Decisive 45-0 Win Against Attila RFC

Saturday, June 28th, saw the Uppsala senior men's team host Attila RFC for their first encounter in many years. The Uppsala squad faced a significant challenge: not only were they without captains James Oakley and Johnny Gorman, as well as vital tackler Jack Smith, but they also had little idea what as to expect from Attila, beyond knowing they had performed well in previous games and boasted some strong ball carriers. Despite that, a rousing prematch speech from stand-in captain Wilhelm Hultin saw the boys visibly fired up and eager to hit the field!

The match started brilliantly for Uppsala, with them registering points on the scoreboard within the first five minutes! Uppsala raced out of the blocks, and some great forward work earned them a penalty at the breakdown directly from the kickoff. A well-placed kick by fly-half Soral Mohammad allowed the home team to gain significant meters in the away half. The resulting lineout, while scrappy, was won by Uppsala. Following some scintillating phase play, the ball made its way to number-eight Luca Illing, who found himself on the wing and hurtling towards the try line. The scene was set, the pass to the Uppsala winger was on, but instead, the subtlest of dummies by the number-.eight bamboozled the Attila players, allowing him to crash over for the first try of the game.

Soon after, the Plebs were over again. This time, a deft chip from Soral Mohammad was dinked over the Attila defense for the onrushing centre Otto Klintenberg to touch down. Another try soon came from veteran Stewart Devine, who did well to gather a tricky offload by the Plebs' 10 before getting over the line. All conversions were slotted home, sending the home side into halftime with a commanding 21-0 lead.

The second half followed much the same vein as the first, as the tries continued to come without response from Attila. The first of which came from a well-executed overlap spotted by the Plebs attackers and finished off majestically by second-row Luka Ford who, in the moment and despite having a variety of passing options, decided to throw a dummy pass and score it himself!  Then, two quick-fire tries from Jacob Wester and Filip Grillfors, the second of which was thanks to another beautifully chipped ball from Soral Mohammad, saw Uppsala pull further ahead with no return for the away side. The day was capped off when hooker Ryan Coupland popped up on the wing and, with a surprising burst of pace, was able to beat the onrushing Attila players and score in the corner!

The match ended 45-0 on what was a great day for the Uppsala men. We now look forward to the summer break and coming back stronger in the second half of the season!

/Johnny