Old Yardleians RFC: Club News
DANGER ON THE ENGLISH RIVIERA
Thu, 05 Apr 2012 11:49
Danger on the English Riviera sounds a little like the title of an Agatha Christie book. However, in this case it refers to the exotic choice of venue for a selected group of ambassadors of the Old Yardleians who will be making the easter pilgrimage to the milder climate (so they hope) of Torquay. There used to be a saying along the lines of, 'what goes on tour stays on tour' but if there is anything of great amusement then sometimes it is in the common interest to share it. Boys, enjoy yourselves but don't get locked up.
A brief look at last weekends rugby.
First XV
There are times when watching our boys play that I, along with many of our loyal supporters, get really frustrated. Playing hosts to a decent but far from unbeatable Kings Norton side, I find it difficult to know how we lost. The set pieces were dominated by our forwards with Billy throwing in with accuracy and Matt Spence (Crouch) cleanly winning his ball and much of the oppositions as well. Our scrum had their's in all sorts of trouble and at scrrum half, young Tom was a constant threat with his sniping runs. The return of Ben Honey gave us added drive around the fringes Our backs, particularly Adam, Andy and Jamie looked dangerous when running at the opposition. Leading for much of the game due to three well taken tries but no successful kicks at goal, we somehow collapsed to a 15-32 defeat. Touchline experts felt that first-up tackling was not halting their momentum and was allowing them to keep possesion far to easilly. Also, that we should take the opportunities when they arise, especially kicks at goal. A common factor seems to be the collapse or loss of concentration in the final 10-15 minutes of the game. It might be that we are not correct in our observations but the feeling is that we have the potential to perform really well, but muscle, skill and brain are all required.
Dev XV and Vandals XV
With our scheduled opponents not having enough players, we were able to take two sides across to Handsworth. With a mixture of players, my reporter mislaid his pencil and notebook but thinks that the scorelines were a defeat by 7-20 and a victory by 10-5.
Under 16s
It is a good test of a team's ability to play against sides from clubs considered to be strong and Stourbridge certainly fit that description. With both of our regular props missing and with coach and motivator Dave (Chicken) Hanson taking on the sun and scenery of Derbyshire in the family caravan, we expected a difficult game of rugby and that was what we got. Our boys have shown great character this season and they don't give up the cause as easily as they used to. Tre'rail, with pace that reminds me of my own early rugby playing days, is now developing the skill of catching the ball and when it sticks in his hands a try is often the outcome and he scored twice, Cameron P. James, Josh and someone else got one each and the final outcome was a win for us by 36-25. Thanks to Andy and his team from Stourbridge who were a threat right up to the final whistle and thanks also to referee Mr Ian Jackson from the N. Mids society and to Pete Morgan who was on standby.
Fixtures
Being Easter all mini/junior teams have no games or training.
Saturday should feature some sort of game for a ' club xv'. More detail to follow.
And Finally
Man City, they took our star players away but will they take the three points they need? Let's see what happens on monday.