The rugby is overshadowed by the sudden death of Tom Guise but we feel sure that he would want us to get on with the sport through which we all knew him.
First XV
In some games the luck has gone against us and we have been narrowly defeated when it was not deserved but our win at Harbury has balanced the books so to speak. Taking an early lead we then eased up allowing the home side to snatch the lead with very little time left. For a change the opposition lost their discipline with two of them sin-binned at the end as we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Our coach nominates himself as our man of the match for his two tries. Well done Gary! Adam Walker got our other try with Max Gimson adding 2 pens and a conversion. This weekend sees the visit to Tilehouse Lane of Coventry Welsh who must not be taken lightly as they beat us on their own patch earlier this season.
Development XV
Communication problems saw our rising stars travel to Aston with only 13 players and that was reflected in the result. Captain, Luke, led the way with our only try. This weekend sees the lads at home to local rivals Five Ways Old Eds.
Vandals XV
An unfortunate incident resulting in a serious injury to one of our players led to the game against Aston being abandoned with our lads leading by 29-5. . Full match report below.
Minis and Juniors
The under 7/8s continue to develop successfully with a strong performance at Old Saltleians.
Meanwhile, our newly reinforced under 15s travelled to Bromsgrove and were in top form opening an early lead with 4 tries and then defending strongly to ensure victory. Jack, our captain and fly-half suffered a serious looking injury and was airlifted to hospital as a precaution. Jack informs me that he is fine but not looking forward to the statutory minimum 21 day recovery time.
Fixturess this weekend
First XV v Coventry Welsh home league
Development Xv v Five Ways home
Vandals XV v Harborne away
Under 7/8 v Redditch away (to be confirmed)
Under 9/10 v Kings Norton home
Under 13/14 v Berkswell and Balsall Common away
Under 15 v Berkswell and Balsall Common away
Berkswell and Balsall play at Honily rd. Meer End CV8 1NQ
Match Report - Vandals v Aston Old Eds 3rds
Our twentieth game of the season on Saturday 12th February 2011 found us at Fort Tilehouse against Aston Old Edwardians 3rds a side who up until last week had occupied the honour of running us the closest in a 22-10 win over at Perry Common in early November.
Doing the hard graft this week loosehead Shannon "Steps" Killarney, Rick "Swing"Lowe at hooker & Bill "Bilbo" Burrows at tighthead, in the second row the brothers Gouldbourn, Spasm & BMT and the tackle twins Nick "the Assassin" Levey and Marcus "Shark" Hope on the flanks with Robbie "Barstool" Bastock at No.8.
In the creative department this week Iain "Johnno" Johnson at scrum half with Ian "Nev" Neville at fly half, Nick "Barrel" Palmer partnering Tony "Grassy knoll" Fitzgerald in the centres and a back three of Phil "Horse" Watson, Simon "Sideways" Singleton and Dave "Ralph" Rollins.
On the couch this week Phil "the General" Evans, Chris "Crash" Rowe, Gary "Smoking" Williams, Sean "Bean" Byrne and after making a quick trip to Harbury to collect his kit out of Lonie's car Alan "the Colt" Arkell. (Apologies Alan for thinking it merely a ruse to go speed drinking with John)
Arriving in good time a big, very different looking and well organised Aston side took the field, together with a youthful looking back division in resplendent in their fluorescent boots. This weeks stunt skipper Marcus guesses wrong and we get kick off towards the club, but wind and low sun in their faces second half, good enough for me.
Nev drops his kick off short (that a first?) and Aston get the scrummage on the centre spot. A big Aston eight get no change out of ours but Johnno gets pinged for coming round. They opt to kick for touch the ball going out about five metres outside our twenty two. The Aston scrum half knocks on from the lineout, but the ref Jigger (coincidentally a former Aston player) plays advantage but the pop to Spasm is deemed forward so we come back for the original offence and a scrum to Yards, a few metres in front of our ten metre line. We get the nudge on, Johnno to Nev and Barrel comes in on the first scissors of the day, and takes it into contact, and we recycle, and Johnno tries to put one over but it takes a deflection, and is fielded cleanly by Aston who look to spin, but their fly half opts to put one instead into Ralphs bread basket, and he sends it back over the top landing just in front of their twenty two where it is collected by the Aston fullback who sends it back with interest going out four or five metres outside our twenty two.
Big Phil takes it at four and we drive it on a few metres, Rick at the back, who splinters off and takes it infield, he offloads to Barstool, passes to Johnno to Nev to Barrel to Fitz to Ralph in the line, he gets caught, Fitzy offloads him to Simon and he gets driven into touch. They try to take the quick throw but Jigger's having none of it and they have to do it properly this time. It goes forward off one of our heads, it looks like, and the Aston scrum half gathers and spins it out to his fly half who gets creamed by the Assassin and they have to start again, they get a drive one before releasing it on the ten metre line to the fly half who pops it to their big No.8 who breaks the line and it's Barrel showing great technique who finally brings him down and the ball goes loose; Sideways scoops it up, shrugs off the first tackle and offloads to Horse who gives the first big hand off of the day and it takes a great tackle by an Aston defender to bring him down on their twenty two, where we're harshly pinged for not releasing.
They kick for touch, the ball going out a couple of metres inside their own half. Big Phil pinches their ball and breaks through the line and has a gallop, before popping inside to Shark in support who in turn feeds Spasm who nudges it forward for a scrum to Aston. But Rick lifts up Bilbo & Shannon and once again single handedly drives Aston off their ball and Barstool picks up from the base and takes it into contact. We spin and BMT looks to go through the middle, but is held, we recycle, Johnno collects goes lateral and brings Horse in on the inside track and he carves his way through the defence to score just to the right of the posts 5-0 Very uncharacteristically Ralph misses what is in his eyes a sitter and probably in Heather's from Eastenders too, to be honest.
Nobody takes responsibility for the restart and Aston regain possession and it's a short pop to their No.8, he Lomu's the Assassin and goes through a couple more, gaining about ten metres before he's mugged by Spasm. They look to recycle then spin it as they start to put three or four good phases together, not that Rick would know as having also been Lomu'd he's having a lie down near the ten metre line. Aston make it all the way to our goal line before using skulduggery & magic we turn it over and kick to clear but it fails to find touch. Johnno chasing up his own kick makes the tackle on the receiver and the ball goes to ground and it makes like a bar of soap as nobody can seem to scoop it up cleanly. Aston finally put us out of our misery and spin it out but Fitz takes their fly half and ball bobbles forward.
We take the opportunity to fetch the woozy Rick off and after he remembered where he's left his rubber hat Crash comes on at hooker and scrums become uncontested while Rick clears his thoughts and thinks about writing his memoirs "I scrum alone". First uncontested one goes to Aston and they look to spin, their centre making a break but he's hauled down by Barrel and we get penalised I presume for one of those many laws around the tackle area. They take it quickly and Shark steps up, they recycle and their No.8 goes route one (they're beginning to look a little one dimensional here) and he gets hammered, and we turn it over, Shannon pops it out to Nev, feigns to kick but gives it to Horse, who puts in a grub hunter forward, and they run it back and Horse makes the tackle, ball looks like it's gone forward, referee signals advantage, but not enough is gained and the ref blows and decides to give us a penalty instead. Nev puts it out on their ten metre line, and the suitably refreshed Mr Lowe jogs back on and our newest stand in hooker comes off to little or no applause.
Big Phil takes it at two (did we really mix it) and we set and drive with Lucid Lowe at the back, we take it on a few, before Spasm takes in on then BMT has a go, as we reach their twenty two, we look to recycle but referees whistle goes for hands in by Aston and Nev puts it into the corner. So lineout back on their five, Horse nonchalantly drifts infield. Big Phil takes it with relative ease comes down with it and Bilbo tidies up at the back and we drive forward, Lucid has it now at the back, but their No.8 comes round, ref spots it, penalty Yards. Ball comes out to Horse, to BMT and he hits traffic, we recycle Johnno steps in flicks it out to Nev, he cuts inside, tries to find Fitz but in the process the ball is deemed to have been deliberately knocked forward by an Aston defender. Penalty Yards right on their line, we take it quickly, perhaps too quickly as the ball sails past the hands in midfield and it is left for the Assassin to scoop it up and head for the line, he makes it to within four or five metres, we regroup and it's a short pop to Alistair who crashes over 10-0. No mistake this time as Ralph slots it for a 12-0 lead.
Shannon takes the restart, spills it but it goes backward so we set and Johnno box kicks it over, the Aston fullback fields it and whistles goes as the referee deems that Shark set off on his chase a little too early, Wednesday probably, so we go back for a scrum to Aston a few metres in front of our twenty two. Their No.8 picks up and goes, he's held up in midfield so ball comes back and their fly half chips over the top and it's Horse who fields it over his shoulder, he turns and goes looks inside for support finds Ralph, but ball goes to ground for a scrum to Aston spanning our twenty two. So Lucid does his stuff and we win another against the head, ball comes to the back and Johnno's simple dip of the shoulders is enough as he draws the flanker offside, penalty Yards and Nev puts in a cracker against the breeze the ball going out on their ten metre line.
Great take by big Phil at the lineout, Johnno sends it out to Nev, who cuts out Barrel, straight to Fitz to Ralph up in the line, to Simon who lights them up and goes, plenty of work to do, and has to both hurdle the fullback who rather than tackle decides to lie down in his path instead, and duck under the winger's despairing effort, before flipping inside to Ralph on his shoulder who dots down to the left of the posts 17-0 but who fails to improve on it as the kick goes awry.
The Aston fly half decides to try something clever at the restart and his kick makes a few metres at best and obviously thinking no one's watching tries to dribble it over the ten. Scrum back on the centre spot, Nev's thinking it could happen to anyone. We split the line Nev, Fitz, Ralph Simon, one side the former Solihull duo of Barrel & Horse on the other. Scrum squeaks a bit and Barstool is forced to pick up & go, he offloads to Shark and he takes it into contact, their big lad tries to come over and it all becomes a bit messy, but we manage to get it back and Fitz punts one forward and gives chase, but the sniper on the grassy knoll hits him in his good leg just as he's about to make the tackle on the catcher. Smoking gets the call to disrobe as their scrum half weaves his way through and it's left to Barstool to save our blushes, and we all pile in, but whistle goes, penalty to Aston for going over/not releasing, take your pick.
The fly half takes it quickly and goes through the first tackle, they set and spin wide and only a good tackle by Horse driving the winger into touch in the far corner stops them from going over. Lineout to Yards on our five metre, the always sartorially elegant Smoking trots on and slots into outside centre. Marcus takes it at two, we set and drive it on until their No.8 makes a nuisance of himself and they turn it over and spin, the industrious Horse makes the tackle this time in midfield, and it goes to ground but he's penalised for handling on the deck. They take it quick, we defend as they build a couple of phases and imaginatively use their No.8 to good effect, but he's held up, they set and he has another go and again we hold him up, it's great goal line defence as they're forced to give up route one and go wide but only as far as their prop who again drives to the line and again we refuse to budge, so the referee steps in and gives them a penalty. They go wider this time and we tackle again, they have to recycle and their little prop has another go for glory and again he's denied. The ref gives another penalty and again they go short and again we hold firm, in fact from the touchline it looked to have gone forward but the ref has decided they've had enough chances doing it their way so he gives them a penalty try instead 17-5. But justice prevails as he misses the kick in front of the posts, and somewhere in amongst there we are penalised for not going back ten six metres from our line, go figure eh?.
It's a deep restart landing in their twenty two and their winger brings it out into midfield where he's scragged and we turn it over and Symes gets clothes lined into touch on their twenty two and Slow starts giving the referee advice on high tackles. Alistair's back at this point decides to go into spasm, but we're a bit short on boiler room so he has to soldier on. Again big Phil pinches their ball and he makes good yards through their line and we all pour through & pile on and spin it out; Barrel comes in on the scissors, but it's a bit static and he has to stand it up so we set. A little known fact this, Slow has given Symes carte blanche to come off his wing whenever he wants in order to burn off that boundless amount of energy he possesses so he comes in takes the pass off Johnno and using his speed goes in field and finds his fellow wingman Horse who cuts back across the grain and again carves up the middle to score under the posts 22-5 Ralph gets this one 24-5.
Both Stepmeister & BMT call for the restart, but BMT defers to his more senior colleague who promptly knocks it on. Steps obviously has a word in Lucid's ear and we drive them off their ball for a third time, but the ball gets knocked on as we takes it forward, Symes tries to clean up but ref's seen it and awards the scrum to Aston. That one goes down, so we have another go, and they spin, Johnno makes the first up tackle, so they recycle and their big fly half has a run, breaks through a couple of tackles and reaches our twenty two, where Barrel in stealth mode comes from nowhere and mugs him of the ball, but his pass to Smokes is deemed to have been deliberately knocked on by an Aston player. Penalty Yards, we take it quick, and we get another one in short order. Nev bangs it down deep and it goes out on their twenty two. Shark takes it cleanly at two, and Johnno snipes forward and gets through, he offloads to Rob who makes more yards and takes it into contact. Johnno digs it out and sends a great pass out to Nev, who dummies Barrel, passes to Smoking, he's held up, Nick takes it on and we all pile in and we spend a minute camped on top of their line, but Aston survive our onslaught as the ref blows for half time.
Half Time 24-5 Water all round, the elements now in our favour; Slow rings the changes and the General comes on for Johnno, Bean for Ralph, and Crash for the Assassin. Some great talking in the huddle as we sense this is now in the bag. The Colt Arkell & Simon "the Timelord" Davis both turn up on the touchline.
Within minutes of the restart we march it up into their half on the far side, where Shannon finds some space in which to work, he cuts inside, Shark takes the switch pass and heads for the line, straight arms the winger and goes over in the corner 29-5. Nev goes close but not close enough but we know it's game over as far as we're concerned.
Shortly after we all know what happened off the ball, and game was rightly abandoned.
Final Score 29-5 (Pools panel result 46-5)
A first half where we largely dominated throughout, with some of the best rugby we've played all season, with Aston hanging in by the skin of their ref's fingernails but ultimately a game marred by the unprovoked violence of the Aston No.8 and I hope that his Club Disciplinary Committee do the right thing.
Here's a very unscientific fact, six of our socks will require repairs due to stud damage, which I think demonstrates the physical nature of the forward battle; so a special mention to our Eight who drove their opposition off their own ball three times in the first half, and who provided such good ball for the Creative Department to work with.
Remember Annual Club Dinner tickets are available from me though already I only have seven left of my allocation, where hot food and an opportunity to see that well known herbalist and thin lipped orator Martin Corry awaits.
Also we have the Beer & Balti night on the 26th February please try to attend, the curry's being made by proper chefs, with lots of poppadum smashing, bring the wife, girlfriend or lover, we need your money, and you'll still be home in time to see Match of the Day . Please try and support Chris Rhodes in this one he's put a lot of work into organising it. Tickets are £8.00 from me.
Slow