Met Slam The Door On First Half Horror Show

Met Police continued their pursuit of promotion and the League title with a comfortable 31-0 victory against Croydon writes Gilbert Ball. In truth, it was an omni-powerful second half performance that overcame a multitude of sins in the first 40 minutes. The Police were somewhat fortunate to have a slim, 5-0 lead at the break rather than a three score deficit. Croydon spent most of the opening exchanges camped in the shadow of the Met's posts; it was not attributable to the visitors' all-round superiority as much as it was a reflection of the Met's total ineptitude and lack of control. Although the Met's Bradley Pace was the only player to light-up the scoreboard, his team seemed to be in the dark about who their teammates were and what the game plan was. The home pack could neither find a team mate nor control the ball, and were often seen going backwards at an alarming rate. But the Met has shown great fortitude in defence this season, and that skill was still in evidence.
It appeared that introductions were made over the half-time oranges and coach Richard Hicks was able to remind his charges exactly what the game plan had been before Christmas.
The second half brought a very much improved performance. The unfortunate injury to Croydon's No.12 towards the end of the first half took some of the fizz out of Croydon's running game but in any case, the hosts started to put together some powerful phases, dominate the line-out, and Healy and Holloway were a real handful for the increasingly pressurised Croydon defence.
Indeed, it was Chris Holloway, returning for his first game since early December, who proved the real scourge notching up a hat-trick of tries that were almost carbon-copies of each other, albeit that one of them was to the left of the posts. Front row colleagues Nick Stein and Ashley Davies were also disrupting the visitors with several powerful runs and one superb try-saving turnover by the latter. It was fitting, therefore, that Stein scored the bonus-point securing try as the Met pack emphasised their growing dominance and understanding with a powerful rumble from the Croydon 22m, and the front row union was only too happy to carry the ball over the try line. Fly half JJ Connelly, who had one of his quieter games, converted Stein's effort with a kick that never seemed to get off the ground until it flopped over the bar in a manner that would have made Dick Fosbury proud. It was one of three successful kicks for the Met 10.
The Met could and should have scored more points. The dire first half did not help, and occasionally forwards' hands in the wide areas did not help in the finishing of otherwise impressive phases. But nevertheless, a bonus point win and the first "shut-out" of the season keeps the Met on course and morale on the up.
A week's break as the RBS 6 Nations takes our attention should give the Met time to come together and fine tune their performance in the hope that they can avenge the defeat at the hands of London Media suffered in the Autumn.