“WIL Conference - round III

We're up against Britnoth's lizards; they are missing a saurus and only have 3 players with block, but do have a +AGI surehands saurus ballcarrier, block on their kroxi, +STR on another saurus, and 2 DPs. They also have just one reroll- which we cancel in the first half with a handicap of Doom & Gloom as we opt to receive.

But D&G is immediately lifted with cheering fans giving them their reroll back at kickoff! Our first foul of the game sees our only DP sent off (KO'ing a saurus). They then break a hole on one side and rush their blodge skink up to next to the ball while putting a tackle zone on our tackle-ghoul. We set up for a 3d blitz but he fails the unmodified dodge!

They pile in more skinks and we're in a little bit of trouble. On T3 we manage to badly hurt one of their DP skinks and try and clear space around the ball. Finally on T4 we manage to bounce the ball into a ghoul's hands - though their STR5 immediately knocks him over. T5 and we're able to grab it properly and run upfield with the lizards chasing hard. Burning up all our rerolls (including on a 1d blitz vs their kroxi while pinned against the sideline) lets us get through and we finally score on T8 via a dodge - not an easy half!

They try for a 1turn touchdown, managing enough pushes to get their skink in range, but can't grab the awkwardly placed ball to try the 6+ pass attempt.

We kick off for the 2nd half and get a perfect defence + a max scatter kick that gives them a touchback. They hand the ball to a rookie saurus on the LOS, then push back all our players and stand 2 guarders around him. But we have a mummy + a guarder of our own to get a 2d blitz in that knocks the ball free. It bounces back and forth to end up between our mummy and their kroxi. Our ghoul grabs it and dodges back without problems!

They counter with a badly hurt on a mummy (regens) and the following turn get in a 2d blitz with a rookie saurus getting the POW they need to stun our ghoul. We blitz over their players nearby and regain the ball with a blodger. We're under a lot of pressure here as their kroxi and STR5 saurus are making it tough for our single mummy to outstrength them- getting more difficult when they BH our tackle/guard wight (regen). Massive pressure continues on turns 6 and 7 as we do our best to hold onto the ball, until they finally manage to crowdpush our ball carrier. The crowd throws it helpfully away from the press and their +AGI saurus grabs it. Surely this is the match equalised?

Our only hope is to get a tackle zone on their saurus which we manage thanks to a good blitz and dodge by our +MA ghoul. They have no rerolls left but just need a pushback with the 2d blitz to make it 1-1... double skulls and the saurus badly hurt to boot!

GG Britnoth!”