Yatton 3's - 7 : OB Vets - 47

This was OB rugby the way it should always be. A monumental amount of faffing and effort in advance of kick off. A pre match changing room filled with greats. Rob the Tan arriving in a considered tight top. The referee changing with us. No ball. Lots of rain and wind. Debate about whether to go out before kick off. A soupsan of touch. A line out and the ball through the hands once. And then kick off.

Having played Yatton 3’s for our 3’s just a few weeks before when they had so many players on the touchline that they were able to replace their entire front row after 15 minutes in a match when the scrums were uncontested, it was a different Yatton who kicked off. OB’s had talked of playing the conditions but then forgot that the conditions were angry rain and blowing a hoolie, and proceeded to chuck the ball around with some abandon. Yatton were honest in defence and seized on some dropped balls, but playing up the serious slope and with the wind in our face, the OB machine started to creak and having threatened to click into gear, it was a delight when it did, tempered slightly by the fact that it was Rob the tan who was the scorer having come off his wing to support. Bricks has been out for almost a year and was clearly keen to make amends and he and Zonks were finding mileage in the centres, whilst Yarks - unusually - seemed to be dropping the ball at every opportunity, clearly thrown by Spotty's old school pass. TT and Hooper made up the backs, and what a back line it was!

The forwards were rampant by this stage and dealt with every reset with good humour, with a front row of Sam Hawke, Pete Gdzonka and Whittle enjoying the thrust from behind of Rory and skipper Johnners, whilst Tristan, Peaches and Lambo were soon joined by a delayed GayJ in a frankly brilliant pack.

One of many highlights of the match was when Hooper released Bricks from our own 22 and then pretty much the whole OB team watched as he disappeared up the hill. On his own. With a few of us calling encouragement from a mile away. Until Tristan turned up on his shoulder to rather ruin the entertainment and score one of his 4 tries on the day! The other was when Peaches and Zonks Daniel played for the oppo in the second half and we saw first hand the joys of trying to tackle the latter, with Bricks (having an eventful match) being dismissed in his attempt by the Mantis! The final highlight was Lambo being shown a yellow card for persistent infringements with only two minutes to go - the oppo looked as bemused as the Welsh Brummie on why!

Enormous thanks to all who played, to Burty who reffed and in particular to Yatton for accommodating us and for giving us a great match. The next Vets match is Saturday 12th December...TBC!