Millom 23 Furness 34

FURNESS came away from Wilson Park with a bonus-point win after a typically scrappy encounter with Millom on an eerily windless day.

The visitors started the stronger of the two sides and after six minutes Rhys Studt swooped on a loose ball to score one of his trademark tries, having evaded the hosts’ defence with hand-offs accompanied by elusive pace to plant the ball under the posts. Steve Perry converted for 7-0.

Any Furness confidence was short-lived as Millom upped their game in response.

The hosts were a rumbling outfit whose bigger tight five began to dominate the scrum.

As a result, Furness struggled to get the ball away and were constantly under pressure.

Spoiling the ball at every opportunity was proving effective for the home side and the frustration in the Furness pack was clear as the penalty count started to build up.

Two well struck penalties in quick succession brought the hosts back into the game at 7-6.

Furness stand-off George Smith settled the Blues down with an impressive long-range drop goal before Millom responded with another penalty to make it 10-9 to the visitors at half-time.

A couple of tactical changes for Furness at half-time saw Andy Brannon move to scrum half, giving the back line more room to move.

It took only 10 minutes for Smith to exploit the gaps and jink his way through the defence for a fine individual try, giving Perry an easy conversion.

Millom were still intent on dominating the tight and their tactics proved effective as they rumbled forward.

The Furness defence, led by Joe Mallinson, proved effective but regular penalties saw Furness pinned in their own half.

The frustrations of a scrappy game eventually came to a head when tempers reached their limit and a 30-man disagreement took place.

When things calmed down, referee Trainor yellow-carded Studt and While for Furness and two Millom combatants were similarly given 10 minutes to calm down.

Now playing 13-a-side, it was Furness who took the upper-hand.

A pacy break by prop Paul Dean fed Smith, who gave Phil Hayward his scoring opportunity on 67 minutes, increasing the lead to 22-9.

Three minutes later it was Charlie Martin who showed elusive pace to outstrip the defence and score his try following some good work by Dillon Tapatu and Martin Ward.

On 70 minutes, it was Perry’s turn to exploit the extra space and he showed a fine turn of speed to score under the sticks, converting his own try to make it 34-9.

As the game stuttered along, there were finally some phases of play that included continuity and Furness pressed forward, meeting the typically robust defence as they tried to break through.

It was Millom who took advantage of Furness relaxing as the game drew to a close.

On 79 minutes, a catch and drive in the line from a penalty saw Millom rumble over the whitewash, grounding the ball somewhere among the mêlée of bodies.

To their credit, Millom were quick to exploit some unforced Furness errors and with the last move of the game it was the hosts who suddenly appeared from the depths of a maul to cross the line unopposed.

Two tries in the last two minutes were just reward for Millom’s hard work during the game.

Smith took the man-of-the-match award for a well-balanced display at stand-off.

There is still plenty of work to do on the training ground this week and the return of at least four players for Saturday’s home game against Carlisle at the Strawberry Grounds should give the Furness selectors a favourable dilemma.