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LATEST NEWS
14 August: AMSTERDAM FAIL AGAIN IN SPIRITED DISPLAY
Facing a strong Hull side in what was going to be a highly competitive friendly Amsterdam roared out of the blocks hoping to rock the Giants early on, receiving the ball straight from Henry Paul kick-off strong runs from Craig Makin and Andy Hobson showed frailties in the Hull defensive unit, only for Andy Heptinstall to carry on where he finished against Cumberland and knocked on at the play of the ball.
The Amsterdam strength seemed to fire up the Giants as they lost their complacent and following a series of forward drives, young rookie Alfie Langer fired a ball across the backline missing out Damian Gibson in the centre to hit Dwayne West for the winger to chip over in the corner, only for Dave Watson backing up, to flail at the ball and knock it over the backline, inexplicably the video ref. was called into action for what was a clear no try.
From the restart further powerful Amsterdam play caused mayhem in the Giants defence, when young Danny Tickle attempted to chip the onrushing Aaron Raper for the ball to drop nicely into the hands of Henry Paul sweeping behind the line of defensive line.
The next 15 minutes was spent with Amsterdam encamped near the Hull line, the Hull defence was magnificent with Willie Swann the orchestrator of the Amsterdam attack shadowed across the park, every time the Hull attack touched the ball however, Gary Charlton targeting Alfie Langer as the danger man hit the pup and took him out of the game, strong defence became the story of the full 80 minutes for both sides.
Dwayne West playing for his position on Saturday night against Stuttgart again scorched up the wing following a backline movement involving Langer, Paul, Gibson, and Cummins, Lee Penny finding speed he never before possessed flew towards young West so he again chipped into the in-goal area when slipping the ball inside for the supporting hooker would have been simpler, Phil Jones grounded the ball to diffuse the attack.
This Amsterdam side playing to a standard never yet seen fired back at Hull, whilst looking like they were going to score, with the Hull defence again in tatters Richard Slater held down Anthony Gibbons when a quick play of the ball would have resulted in a try, the referee awarded a penalty and should have dispatched Slater to the sin-bin for the professional foul. Up stepped Pat Rich, one of the best kickers in the EIRL Rich didn't miss for the first score in the game.
Amsterdam continued to pulverise the two Hull half-backs Henry Paul spilled the ball again to gift another chance to the Admirals, Dale Holdstock rumbled towards the line and seemed to ground the ball only for Paul to make up for his mistake and turn the forward over to prevent another Amsterdam try.
Further mistakes ensued but finally Hull showed the class that makes them one of the favourites to lift the Premiership crown, Steel Retchless burst through two attempted tackles to pass the ball outside to Damian Gibson, he scorched towards the Amsterdam line, drew the fullback and slipped the ball inside to Phil Kendrick to score under the posts. The great cry of forward from the Amsterdam crowd was unheard as the referee was left 30 yards behind play and couldn't adjudge the penalty, Paul made the conversion for Hull to lead 6 - 2. The game burst into life, end to end rugby, and some unbelievable skill form both sides could have left the score 20 all at the break only for desperate defence and ferocious tackling at the line preventing further inroads.
In the second half again Amsterdam came out well, two tries were
disallowed before five minutes had passed, the second for a forward pass that the referee decided to see, it is amazing how often one sided referees are to forward passes when the Paul brothers are on the park, Henry gets away with blue murder.
How Hull kept Amsterdam out for the remainder of the match no one knows, seven further tries were stopped at the last minute including an 80 metre move on 80 minutes, Craig Makin seemed to ghost past Joe Vagana in the Hull ranks before passing to Phil Jones, Jones knowing that it was the last play in the game punted the ball into orbit for a scramble in the Hull final 5, Dwayne West leapfrogged Willie Swann and Lee Penny to scramble the ball clear. The sides only traded penalties in the second half so Hull came out top 8 - 4.
A better performance by the Admirals, Rob Clarke said "we fought well and looked good, any team with Raper, Paul and Langer could destroy an outfit and we held them and were unlucky not to win. The best aspect of the game was that we only conceded 5 penalties and 15 errors, much better. Hopefully, this will be our steppingstone towards better performances in D1.
All money from gate receipts and programmes will be sent to the blind referees association to help with viewing forward passes from the Paul brothers."
13 August: AMSTERDAM DESPERATION
Following another defeat at the weekend, Amsterdam Admirals playing and coaching team are becoming distraught at their lack of success over the season, coach Rob Clarke said....
"With the players that we had on the park on Saturday, why did we lose 26 - 0, it is a strong team, albeit one that does not yet play well together, we are dazed and confused and becoming desperate for something to start clicking. During the game, we completed almost 80% of our sets and played some great rugby but as soon as we get anywhere near the opposition line we fail and fail again. I am sure that most teams in division 1 would be slightly envious over the quality of players I've attracted over the last two weeks, so why are we so bad?
I know that with some luck, young Phil Jones will start to combine with Willie Swann to form a very strong attack, and the backs at this club all have quality and experience and we will turn it round, however, even at this early stage in the season, if we don't win next week then it could be curtains for us and our hopes for the end of season playoffs.
Credit to Cumberland, they turned us over again and seem to be hitting a purple patch in their season, their two half backs are deadly with the ball in hand, and I will be surprised if they don't make the playoffs at the end of the season.
This is a plea to all teams in the EIRL, if a game can be sanctioned
will someone come to Amsterdam for a friendly, my players need the chance to gel together before it is too late."
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