Old Yardleians 1st XV 49 - 5 Mosley Oak 1st XV
A man of the match performance from Ben Honey (sorry Brian) resulted in an impressive win against Mosley Oak (formerly Selly Oak) in the first league game of the season. After the disappointing cup exit last Saturday to Upton, a more focused Yardleians squad took the pitch with a no lose attitude. From the first kick off, the Yards pack took on the Oak pack and dominated in all elements of the game. An impressive and weighty front row of Withey, Bucknall and Butler, weighing in at 56 stones, gave Oak no clean ball throughout the whole game. They were boosted in the 2nd half with Bobo Robinson arriving in the 50th minute as a front row replacement. The first try came from a swift forward move, resulting in Ben Honey picking up his first of two tries. Honey also added a penalty in the first half to go 8-0 up in the first 10 minutes. A lack of concentration by Yards gave Oak their only score of the game, scoring in the corner after a defensive mix up. Yards continued to dominate with tries from Phil Painter and Ian Walker in the first half. The defensive partnership of Seymour Seaton and Joe Patrick in the centres, gave no time for Oaks backs to gain any ball. The Oaks half backs were always under pressure from the back row combination of Grainger, Cunningham and Honey, all of which stopped the offensive thinkers within the Oak team. Making his first start for the 1st team, Andy Powrie worked well with Alan Purdy and the forever young Dave Hansen closing down the Oak backs whenever they got the ball. Impressive running from Davey Langley and good decision making from Lee Purdy gave Oaks defensive line many issues during the first half. Yards went into the first half 18-5 up. During the second half, Yards started to open up Oak?s defence adding another five tries via Jo Patrick, Seymour Seaton, Ben Honey, Bobo Robinson and Butler. Adding Brennen and Pearce to the 2nd half side as replacements gave Oaks additional problems throughout the 2nd half, the running off the ball from the yards pack and backs was wonderful to watch, entertaining the crowd, on a special VP?s day. Yards finished the game, much as they started it, dominating lineout ball, scrummaging and an all round top defensive performance. With Shrewsbury to be visited next Saturday, it gave Yards a good start to the season and the inspirational speech from Brennen at the end of the game gave Yards their final focus for the day.
Rich Withey (Correspondent)