Exiles first team, although missing a few regulars and introducing a number of junior players in the second half, ran up 95 - 7 scoreline against a poor Goteborg side. The hosts were able to round off the first half of the season with a fine display of attacking rugby and apart from a score that was conceded following a schoolboy error by a senior player, a near faultless display leaves the Exiles looking good come the next round of matches. As for the visitors? some serious thought and hard work needs to be applied in order for them to avoid the drop.
Enkoping got back on track again with a fine win over a traveling Pingvin by 39-7. Not much difference in the scoreline when the two teams met on the opening day of the season. However from ERK's point of view a welcome two points after dropping 3 points in the preceding two matches. The now sit tucked in just behind the leaders and could well make a big impact after the break. Pingvin are improving and have started to play with some style as well as an improved attitude to away matches. They could spring one or two surprises in the autumn.
Finally what was probably the toughest match of the round. Hammarby visiting Spartacus with an air of confidence which come from sitting at the top of the table. This was not going to be a game for the faint hearted and from the whistle both sides played hard aggressive rugby, with no quarter asked and none given. Hammarby appeared to have more options in the backs and tried to use them on a number of occasions only to be thwarted by a resolute defence. At half time the score was 10-5 to Spartacus and an upset looked on the cards. But with some fortitude Hammarby managed two more scores in the second half winning 10-15.
Hammarby look to be favourites for the title, whilst Spartacus appear to be improving with every match and could yet spring a few surprises in the second half of the season.
Team M W D L PF PA Points
Hammarby 5 5 0 0 195 43 10
Enkoping 6 4 1 1 184 83 9
Stockholm Exiles 6 4 0 2 286 61 8
Spartacus 5 1 1 3 61 72 3
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Pingvin 6 1 0 5 50 243 2
Goteborg 6 1 0 5 56 330 2
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Seems to be down to the top 4 for the title.Exiles are starting to gel.Enköping have dropped off and rumours are all is not well.Hammarby got another close win away but apparently didn,t show title form.Spartacus have improved alot from last year and could be a outside bet to make the final.At least this year its alot more open.Great to see pingvin coming back slightly.GRF look to be in big trouble and will be the one that drops down.
ReplyDeleteThings are shaping up and for the teams at the bottom the break couldn't have come sooner.
ReplyDeleteExiles seem to be the form team going into the break and will probably be the ones most upset that it arrived. With Hammarby and Enköping games back to back after the break it could define where they finish in the regular season.
Enköping seem to be grinding out wins whilst not playing the stylish rugby of last year. They stole a win at the death at home to Exiles, drew against Spartacus in Göteborg, and haven't look half as impressive as title winners last year.
Hammarby are certainly upsetting the form book this year, with some really aggressive and tight forward displays. Second half turn arounds got them the wins over Exiles and Enköping, a big win over Göteborg at home should be put into perspective though. The away team travelled light only 16 or 17 players and through injuries played the last 15 minutes with 13 very tired players.
Spartacus the surprise package of the season, lots of new recruits have the Spartacus Team sheet looking more like the Exiles Team sheet. From looking at the team sheets posted on their website, they only have about 8 Swedes in the match squads. Mike Hale joining the coaching staff has had an impact, defencively very sound at home. But on a pitch that small that's easy enough to achieve. fixtures worked in their favour so far, having played 4 of their 5 home games already, second half of the season looks hard for them. With only Göteborg at home, a tricky trip down the Trelleborg to play Pingvin and the long trips up north where they'll surely struggle a little on the much larger fields.
That being said though, their season could well have peeked before they need to travel north. Wins at away to Pingvin and then at home to Göteborg will see them secure 4th place and a semi spot before they have to face the north teams on their home soil.
Pingvin proved with an away win over Göteborg that they can play some rugby, and with both Spartacus and Göteborg having to travel to Trelleborg Pingvin are still in with a shout of repeating last years 4th place play off spot. 6 pts should be enough to claim 4th place.
Göteborg of the bottom 3 have had the hardest of seasons so far, the fixture list stacked against them, Exiles and Enköping for opening games not allowing them to gain any momentum. Massive injury problems and a small squad have not helped their cause either. They did claim a derby win over Spartacus which if repeated in August could kick start their poor season so far. The break couldn't have come sooner for Göteborg giving them time to rest and recover, hopefully the injuries will have healed and they'll be able to make more of a showing in the second half of the season. Having lost a number of players to Spartacus at the beginning of the season, as well as a few new recruits being persuaded to pull on the red jersey instead of the blue one, Göteborg's biggest problem right now is numbers. Having lost their students as well now the summer has arrived some serious work needs to be done to rescue the season. A win in Trelleborg though could and should be enough sneak 5th place. But as mentioned above Trelleborg is a tough place to win at.
As for who'll end up wearing gold at the end of the season, that's a tough one. Can Hammarby hold onto 1st place and force Exiles and Enköping to battle it out in the semi's?
Can Exiles carry their free scoring ways into the second half of the season and surge into top spot and the seemingly easier Semi?
Can Enköping finally get into gear?
Can Spartacus hold onto 4th spot, that point for the draw against Enköping making a massive difference right now?
Or can Göteborg or Pingvin pull things together in the second half of the season and climb above the men in red?
Well we'll know in come the end of September.
Jag har läst och hört många gånger att Spartacus plan är liten. Märkligt tycker jag med tanke på att den håller reglerna för max mått alltså 70m bred och hundra meter lång men det måste varit någon annan än jag själv som har mätt då när vi mätte för Partille kommun. Det är kanske så att nån annan har för stor plan då? Jomps http://www.richmondrugby.net/pitch.goal_size.html
ReplyDeleteSounds like you know who, GRF injury problems etc.....same shit every year..bla bla bla
ReplyDeleteFrom the Spartacus team that played in the 14-14 draw with Enköping (the last match report with a squad list) 16 of the 22 players are elligable to play for Sweden. A further 3 will be elligable next year under the 3 year rule (numbers 2, 8 and 15). Only players 3, 9 and 21 are new to Sweden. Number 3 moved over as his kiwi girlfriend is workng here, 9 is working as a fireman here and 21 is a Sri Lanken student at chalmers. Hardly the same as Exiles.
ReplyDeleteDespite all these players being elligable, I suspect you'll see no Spartacus players in the next Sweden squad, and plenty of Vänersborg players
The only club in the west that's like Stockholm Exiles is Göteborg RF. Nine new players, eight of whom have come from abroad. Spartacus have 11 new players, only 4 of whom have come from non-swedish clubs.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting is the 3 Polish players that Göteborg shipped in just before the game against Pingvin. Apparently, they were collected by a member of Goteborg RF from the ferry down in Trelleborg and driven up to Gothenburg the night before the game. They were given the apartment of a GRF player who moved in with his mother for the weekend. They haven't been seen at the club since the Pingvin match.
This is the type of antics that Neil Johnson used to give out about quite a lot on his blog. I guess teams shipping in players in for big games is only a concern when it's not GRF doing it.
First it was....lets wait to see Spartacus play the northern teams, the usual 40 point losses etc, then it was the mobbing of trying to get Fernando banned,then spartacus are a dirty team,then lets wait to they play on the much bigger fields up north, spartacus are like exiles ,etc etc everyone knows who you are and your constant bullshit.The sooner your own club gets the balls to throw you out only then will they start to improve.
ReplyDeleteLeaving the league points total out of the equation - the really telling stats are the Points for and against columns. All the south teams are within a dozen points of each other in points scored although the points against lets the bottom two down.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between for and against is irrelevant if a team is not scoring points. Enköping are second but will be unhappy that they have let in 81 points against them. Spartacus will probably be happy to have only let in 71. No criticism, just pointing out that that gap remains a wide one.
The problem with the South teams is the away games, certainly for GRF and Pingvin because they have not got the squad size. Maybe Spartacus will fare better, we will see.