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Sat 04 Oct 2014
Yatton 3rd XV
Vets
33
29
Yatton 3rd team – 33 : OB Vets – 29
Nick Reed10 Oct 2014 - 21:05
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Cracking game
There are times in your sporting life when you think back and think; that is why I play sport. That is why I annoy my loved ones in spending so much time doing it. Why I put my body through the injuries. Why I study the sport. Why I sometimes even now can’t sleep with the excitement of it! As Alex Ferguson (almost) said: “Sport, bloody hell!”
This match was a humdinger. We arrived to what had been classed by their fixture sec as a “Vets match with a few 3rd teamers” to find a bonafide squad of ~25 Yatton 3rd teamers warming up and boasting about how they had had a ‘decent pre-season’ and had won all their games. Oh well, we had a decent squad, albeit shorn of a few key components (a third of the starting team had dropped out through various reasons in the proceeding 48 hours!) and after a lot of rain overnight, it was a gorgeous afternoon and a big crowd was milling around the wonderful community feel of Yatton RFC. As kick off approached and Smudge only just avoided going to South Wales due to an erroneous selectogramme from Mr Tristan Fowler (obviously love has diluted his admin powers!) Hawko hadn’t shown so having promised Matt Mann (a very welcome addition to the club through Cuss) he would only have a gentle reintroduction to rugby with “10 minutes at the end” I broached the subject of him starting. I also had a chat with Aristotle King only for his 7 year old Sophie to say with absolute complicit authority that “her Daddy was not going to play” – She said it with such conviction that neither of us argued with her!
They kicked off and the first 10 minutes was hard work. They were well drilled and young, we were less so on both counts. But the sun was out, it was dry and we had Johnners back in the fold after his Australasian adventure, and Coxy was getting married again so all was good with the world. Having gone behind to a strange try, we decided to play some rugby rather than let the floodgates open.
The front row of Cuss and Rob (both making their Vets debuts) and Smudge were excellent throughout, with Trevor and Ferg providing the unflinching hard work behind and dominating at the line out, and the back row of Ettsy and Nivs complimenting the white booted Johnners (who I have to say it was good to have back!). We had a Frenchie and a Spaniard in our ranks as well as Scots and Irish and it was Frenchman Emile who started at 9 following a reshuffle when Hawko didn’t turn up, with Spotty moving to 15 and myself and Matt lining up in the centres alongside Coxy at 10. Out on the wings, Beachy’s boot was twitching and Anthony was keen for a run having missed the inter club match a few weeks back! With Phantis on the bench for the forwards, and Spanish Daniel covering the backs, we looked only slightly with envy at their significant bench...
Having gone behind, a break from Coxy put us back on the front foot and able linking from the centres and support from Ettsy, Ferg and Nivs in particular allowed us to create space on the left for Tony A to slide in the corner. Being too polite to refuse the training cone kicking tee that a young lad brought on for me to use, I rather fluffed the first conversion, but when, a minute or two later we again combined to send Tony in the same corner, he contrived to knock the ball on when grounding it, albeit after a wonderful recovering tackle from a Yatton boy. Later in the match Spotty was denied a fair try over a grounding offence but such is rugby. The match was in full flow now, with both teams looking to run the ball, and a dancing break from defence from Spotty initiated a glorious try finished when Coxy took a switch off Johnners and – with the soon to be Mrs Cox V on the touchline – he was able to grow a few extra inches and dot down, again wide out on the left. With a proper tee, I stroked the conversion onto the upright with a strike that Mrs Lambert would have complained about given that it would have caused her to have to change the sheets in her pregnant state had John seen it and then replayed it in his mind that night!
Momentum is an over used word but clearly we were getting the lion’s share of ball now, with our forwards bossing their younger fitter rivals. Having thought that they would turn over some oldies, Yatton knew they had a game on and again a break in the 10 channel with Coxy, Johnners and Ettsy linking allowed us to spread the ball one way, then back the other where clever linking in the centres allowed Beachy some space, and as he inevitably cut back inside, I was able to switch with him to dot down out wide. Again the conversion struck the upright, prompting the ref to say that he would buy me a pint if I made it a hatrick. He was clearly sure that we would be scoring again, but as half time approached it was the oppo who scored again, and would have bagged another had it not been for a fantastic one on one tackle from Spotty as the last man, and again superb covering from the forwards, and solid D from all concerned. Ferg used his nose in one tackle and disappeared to the blood bin, but Phantis dropped seamlessly in and all 17 OB’s manned up for the cause, with special mention to big Rob on his first competitive match in ~9 years, and poor Matt in the centres his first in a couple (despite having rung me up the night before to make it clear he was only after a run at the end, he played all but 10 minutes and showed some class going forward as well as in defence! Welcome to the club Matt!)
Half time came with us almost even on the scoreboard and in typical OB style I urged us to start the second half (up the hill, into the breeze) with a bang. Instead, we kicked off and a few phases later we watched as their teenage 9 pushed Emile out the way and went into a turning scrum to pluck the ball out with the referee unsighted, and whilst we waited for the whistle they dotted down for another converted try. Following a bit of feedback from me and a shake of the head from Ettsy, the Ref rather bizarrely announced that he was going “to ref it like an international from now on!” Rather like my beloved Scotland in the 6 Nations, OB’s were not going to do things the easy way! Emile had been a revelation at scrum half, with an accurate pass and creating a great tempo for his forwards, and he latched onto some superb interpassing in the forwards to cross the line. Sadly he then crossed the dead ball line too but as I explained to the ref he was French, the ref agreed that in the spirit of the game it should stand showing that Gaelic relations are strong even in the West Country. The conversion was a formality, and we were back in the game again, a fact exaggerated when Nivsy listened to Ettsy’s advice (that is a sentence that could only really appear in a sports report) and burst through the fringes of a ruck “like a young Finlay Calder” (a Scottish and Lions player so great that in my youth, despite being a small back, I wanted to be like him!) and I was able to latch onto Nivsy’s pass to score another converted try to put us ahead at 26-29 with 10 minutes to go! Ettsy then performed a superman impression by scragging a young ‘un, stripping the ball off them, charging upfield with a couple on his back and eventually ending up having to go off with back spasms...
The oppo then incurred the wrath of Johnners by electing to kick a penalty – which was pushed wide to which the white booted one sadly applauded – and as the clock started to wind down, a missed tackle in the 10 channel allowed their 10 to scoot in for a converted try. 33-29 with 4 minutes to go. If Tan had made it like he had promised, he would have had his chest out so far that Melinda Messenger would have been jealous...
Then ensued a passage of play that will stay with me for a long time, and pre-empted that first paragraph of this report. We got the ball from the kick off and battered away at Yatton like a team 20 years younger than we actually were. The ball came one way, then another, then another, and we honestly kept the ball in hand for almost the entire 4 minutes with the oppo’s defence bravely holding firm. At one stage we worked it to me and as I raced into the 22 it was one of those times in your rugby career when you think back and consider whether you should have just backed yourself and gone for it, but with cover breathing down my neck I elected to pass and their defence snuffed us out. As the final whistle blew, we traipsed off with that strange juxtaposition of technically having lost the match, but also having won...let’s take that pain mixed with euphoria and play that kind of rugby for the season to come, albeit with that being the last match we lose...on a personal level, I could not have asked for anymore from anyone involved; you were all a credit to your shirt!
Scorers – Hooper 14 (2 tries, 2 cons), Emile – 5, Coxy -5 and Tony – 5.
MOTM – the whole squad (cliché I know but honestly deserved!)
DOTD – It was great to have him back but Johnners applauding a missed penalty kick narrowly surpasses Beachy’s 270 degree kick over his own head, or Hawko’s second non show!
This match was a humdinger. We arrived to what had been classed by their fixture sec as a “Vets match with a few 3rd teamers” to find a bonafide squad of ~25 Yatton 3rd teamers warming up and boasting about how they had had a ‘decent pre-season’ and had won all their games. Oh well, we had a decent squad, albeit shorn of a few key components (a third of the starting team had dropped out through various reasons in the proceeding 48 hours!) and after a lot of rain overnight, it was a gorgeous afternoon and a big crowd was milling around the wonderful community feel of Yatton RFC. As kick off approached and Smudge only just avoided going to South Wales due to an erroneous selectogramme from Mr Tristan Fowler (obviously love has diluted his admin powers!) Hawko hadn’t shown so having promised Matt Mann (a very welcome addition to the club through Cuss) he would only have a gentle reintroduction to rugby with “10 minutes at the end” I broached the subject of him starting. I also had a chat with Aristotle King only for his 7 year old Sophie to say with absolute complicit authority that “her Daddy was not going to play” – She said it with such conviction that neither of us argued with her!
They kicked off and the first 10 minutes was hard work. They were well drilled and young, we were less so on both counts. But the sun was out, it was dry and we had Johnners back in the fold after his Australasian adventure, and Coxy was getting married again so all was good with the world. Having gone behind to a strange try, we decided to play some rugby rather than let the floodgates open.
The front row of Cuss and Rob (both making their Vets debuts) and Smudge were excellent throughout, with Trevor and Ferg providing the unflinching hard work behind and dominating at the line out, and the back row of Ettsy and Nivs complimenting the white booted Johnners (who I have to say it was good to have back!). We had a Frenchie and a Spaniard in our ranks as well as Scots and Irish and it was Frenchman Emile who started at 9 following a reshuffle when Hawko didn’t turn up, with Spotty moving to 15 and myself and Matt lining up in the centres alongside Coxy at 10. Out on the wings, Beachy’s boot was twitching and Anthony was keen for a run having missed the inter club match a few weeks back! With Phantis on the bench for the forwards, and Spanish Daniel covering the backs, we looked only slightly with envy at their significant bench...
Having gone behind, a break from Coxy put us back on the front foot and able linking from the centres and support from Ettsy, Ferg and Nivs in particular allowed us to create space on the left for Tony A to slide in the corner. Being too polite to refuse the training cone kicking tee that a young lad brought on for me to use, I rather fluffed the first conversion, but when, a minute or two later we again combined to send Tony in the same corner, he contrived to knock the ball on when grounding it, albeit after a wonderful recovering tackle from a Yatton boy. Later in the match Spotty was denied a fair try over a grounding offence but such is rugby. The match was in full flow now, with both teams looking to run the ball, and a dancing break from defence from Spotty initiated a glorious try finished when Coxy took a switch off Johnners and – with the soon to be Mrs Cox V on the touchline – he was able to grow a few extra inches and dot down, again wide out on the left. With a proper tee, I stroked the conversion onto the upright with a strike that Mrs Lambert would have complained about given that it would have caused her to have to change the sheets in her pregnant state had John seen it and then replayed it in his mind that night!
Momentum is an over used word but clearly we were getting the lion’s share of ball now, with our forwards bossing their younger fitter rivals. Having thought that they would turn over some oldies, Yatton knew they had a game on and again a break in the 10 channel with Coxy, Johnners and Ettsy linking allowed us to spread the ball one way, then back the other where clever linking in the centres allowed Beachy some space, and as he inevitably cut back inside, I was able to switch with him to dot down out wide. Again the conversion struck the upright, prompting the ref to say that he would buy me a pint if I made it a hatrick. He was clearly sure that we would be scoring again, but as half time approached it was the oppo who scored again, and would have bagged another had it not been for a fantastic one on one tackle from Spotty as the last man, and again superb covering from the forwards, and solid D from all concerned. Ferg used his nose in one tackle and disappeared to the blood bin, but Phantis dropped seamlessly in and all 17 OB’s manned up for the cause, with special mention to big Rob on his first competitive match in ~9 years, and poor Matt in the centres his first in a couple (despite having rung me up the night before to make it clear he was only after a run at the end, he played all but 10 minutes and showed some class going forward as well as in defence! Welcome to the club Matt!)
Half time came with us almost even on the scoreboard and in typical OB style I urged us to start the second half (up the hill, into the breeze) with a bang. Instead, we kicked off and a few phases later we watched as their teenage 9 pushed Emile out the way and went into a turning scrum to pluck the ball out with the referee unsighted, and whilst we waited for the whistle they dotted down for another converted try. Following a bit of feedback from me and a shake of the head from Ettsy, the Ref rather bizarrely announced that he was going “to ref it like an international from now on!” Rather like my beloved Scotland in the 6 Nations, OB’s were not going to do things the easy way! Emile had been a revelation at scrum half, with an accurate pass and creating a great tempo for his forwards, and he latched onto some superb interpassing in the forwards to cross the line. Sadly he then crossed the dead ball line too but as I explained to the ref he was French, the ref agreed that in the spirit of the game it should stand showing that Gaelic relations are strong even in the West Country. The conversion was a formality, and we were back in the game again, a fact exaggerated when Nivsy listened to Ettsy’s advice (that is a sentence that could only really appear in a sports report) and burst through the fringes of a ruck “like a young Finlay Calder” (a Scottish and Lions player so great that in my youth, despite being a small back, I wanted to be like him!) and I was able to latch onto Nivsy’s pass to score another converted try to put us ahead at 26-29 with 10 minutes to go! Ettsy then performed a superman impression by scragging a young ‘un, stripping the ball off them, charging upfield with a couple on his back and eventually ending up having to go off with back spasms...
The oppo then incurred the wrath of Johnners by electing to kick a penalty – which was pushed wide to which the white booted one sadly applauded – and as the clock started to wind down, a missed tackle in the 10 channel allowed their 10 to scoot in for a converted try. 33-29 with 4 minutes to go. If Tan had made it like he had promised, he would have had his chest out so far that Melinda Messenger would have been jealous...
Then ensued a passage of play that will stay with me for a long time, and pre-empted that first paragraph of this report. We got the ball from the kick off and battered away at Yatton like a team 20 years younger than we actually were. The ball came one way, then another, then another, and we honestly kept the ball in hand for almost the entire 4 minutes with the oppo’s defence bravely holding firm. At one stage we worked it to me and as I raced into the 22 it was one of those times in your rugby career when you think back and consider whether you should have just backed yourself and gone for it, but with cover breathing down my neck I elected to pass and their defence snuffed us out. As the final whistle blew, we traipsed off with that strange juxtaposition of technically having lost the match, but also having won...let’s take that pain mixed with euphoria and play that kind of rugby for the season to come, albeit with that being the last match we lose...on a personal level, I could not have asked for anymore from anyone involved; you were all a credit to your shirt!
Scorers – Hooper 14 (2 tries, 2 cons), Emile – 5, Coxy -5 and Tony – 5.
MOTM – the whole squad (cliché I know but honestly deserved!)
DOTD – It was great to have him back but Johnners applauding a missed penalty kick narrowly surpasses Beachy’s 270 degree kick over his own head, or Hawko’s second non show!
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