Top six spot in Sudbury Rugby Club’s sights after 110-0 demolition job
Sudbury’s 110-0 demolition of struggling Ruislip – thought to be a club record score – took the club to 53 points, the same total as the whole of last season in London Division 1 North.
Sudbury remain in eighth place, but head coach Neil Dachtler has his sights set on moving up the table with seven matches still remaining.
“We deserve to be higher in the league than we were last season, and we deserve to be higher than this (eighth),” he said.
“There’s been a few games we should have picked up points from. We want to be top six and way above what we were last season.”
Ruislip, beaten at Eton Manor by the same score on January 18, then their biggest defeat of the season, have lost all 19 of their league games. But Sudbury took nothing for granted, and dominated the match from the first of their 18 tries in the opening minute. No records that have been found have shown a Sudbury first team hitting 100 points before.
“We went out today with the right attitude. We know they are bottom of the league but we knew they’ve had a bit of a recruitment drive, so we didn’t know what to expect,” said Dachtler.
“We made sure the boys were under no illusions, and that we had got to go out with our A game, otherwise we could end up looking silly.
“You have to play every game as if you are playing the top of the table. We were expecting a hard game, which is why we never let them in the game.
“If we had and they’d got their tails up they might have caused us problems. Fair play to Ruislip for keeping going,” he said.
“It’s so easy to capitulate. They kept hunting for a try, but good defence by us prevented that.
“We managed to nullify them in midfield, and once we got the ball and were going forward at speed they were clutching at shadows at times. There were some great hand skills out there.”
Dachtler paid tribute to the club’s second-team players.
“They turned up this week to train, knowing they’ve not got a game, and without their help and support the first team wouldn’t be playing the way they are. Our second team defence on Tuesday and Thursday night was probably better than the one out there today. It’s a complete squad effort.”
Sudbury have no game this weekend. They travel to bottom but one Woodford, a team fighting to avoid relegation, on February 15, another match Dachtler is not taking lightly. Runaway leaders North Walsham are at Sudbury on February 22.
