First XV Visit Bickenhill
Birmingham Exiles have re-located due to Airport extension work and when their new pitches are ready, possibly by the end of the season, I would expect them to have a very impressive facility. I was pleased to receive a match report of saturday's action which you can have a read of,
Birmingham Exiles RUFC were unable to mark their debut at their new home with a victory against near-neighbours Old Yardleians. The Shirley side, top of the next division up from E’s with a 100 per cent record, came with a big pack and a pacey back division and, in the first half, ran up a score that pointed to a heavy defeat for the hosts, but Exiles defended doggedly in the second half, restricting the visitors to a single score.
Yards thought they had scored after just three minutes, but the would-be scorer just failed to ground the ball. Points were not long in coming though: from a scrum, the ball was moved to the left where winger Adam Walker - a top scorer for Birmingham Bulldogs Rugby League over the summer – touched down; full back Sean Rai [sic] added a well-struck conversion.
A break down the left by Y’s scrum half Purdy set up a position from which number eight Dave Langley crossed to score, and another try came soon after from prop Luke Harris giving Y’s a 17-point lead in little more than a quarter of an hour.
Exiles forced their way back into the match: first Loveridge made a great break, but E’s were then penalised, next Warrillow saw a penalty goal attempt hit the crossbar, then, points at last as open-side flanker Hayden Pattison stormed down the right flank for a try in the corner that was excellently converted by stand off Alex Warrillow.
Before the break, Rai kicked a penalty for the visitors, then converted a well-worked try from centre Sam Leckie
HT: Birmingham Exiles 7 Pts, Old Yardleians 27
Less than ten minutes into the second half, and a bad blow for E’s as centre \Ben Appleton was carried off with a leg injury that was diagnosed as sprained knee ligaments and which will keep him sidelined for a month or so.The next twenty minutes were scoreless: E’s pack had their work cut out against the much bigger visiting eight but were giving a pretty good account of themselves; a promising-looking attack ended with them being penalised.
The final score of the afternoon came after Y’s had won a post-penalty lineout: the ball was whipped out to the left where the long-striding Walker went down the touchline for his second try.
Exiles kept going, and winger Holland was unlucky to be called back as the pass to him was ruled forward, but no other serious chances came in the final few minutes.
Development XV
The pigeon has not yet flown in with the details of this game but to beat Evesham 2nds by 38-16 looks to me like a very good performance.
Vandals XV
With the Firsts kicking off early , I was lucky enough to be able to drive back to Streetsbrook Road to watch our mature stars take on a youthful Eds 2nds. It makes you realise how well off we are at the Ys in terms of first team back up and strength in depth as although the Eds firsts are going well at present, their seconds were no real match for our third string. Tries from Rupert, Mark, Phil Evans and Chris Rowe plus a few kicks from Ralph saw us cruise to victory by 27-7. See full match report below.
Under 17s
On sunday our rising stars having had their extra hour's rest due to the clocks changing made the short trip to Camp Hill. As is our m.o, we started very slowly in order to see how many points we could catch up in the second half. For once our pack was lethargic both in set pieces and around the park. This meant reduced ball for our backs who had to run the ball from long range. We reached half time with a 5-18 defecit, but a verbal kick up the rears seemed to do the trick and our quality midfield runners ran at speed to probe the gaps and the score crept up to 17-18, but time was running out. One judgment from the referee had a major impact on the final score. A counter-attack from a deep position by our backs looked odds on to bring a decisive try but the man with the whistle judged the final pass to have been forward. Amazing vision from well behind play. A final score of 22-26 should act as a wake up call for our boys and we will be looking for a sharper performance in this week's game at home to Five ways.
Bonfire Night
This saturday, 3rd Nov from 6.30 at the club and unlike some other places admission at the Old Ys is free. There will also be a prize for the best Guy Fawkes
Quiz Champions
Congratulations to the winners from the St Alphege Badminton club, led by Veronica and thanks to all who helped the night go well.
Guess Who ?
A very capable utility back (that means he couldn't decide what he wanted) mostly second team scrum half or full back and a friend of Zakers. If you see him at one of our games and say to him something along the lines of 'I don't think you look anything like Baldrick' then I feel confident that a pint will come your way.
Mini and Junior News
Aussie John has started the ball rolling with news from our young stars so read on.
What started out as a brisk and foggy beginning to the day rapidly turned into the perfect Sunday morning to take a drive out to Redditch to watch some great U10's rugby.
We do like to do it the hard way and in accordance with this tradition we fielded 8 players who ended up playing as if there were 9 on the pitch.
This weeks stars were Dan Hayes, Olliver Lonie, Josh Talliss, Toby Good, Ethan Hart, Josh Hull, Shane Desnos-Charmant and Jake Lowe.
This weeks opponents were Redditch who we played twice at Kings Norton and over whom we managed two narrow victories. Fortunately, Redditch were in the same position player wise which evened things up somewhat. We ended up playing 4 halves of 8 minutes each
It's great to watch the boys each week develop both their skills and their rugby brains. The first game was tight with our passing and support game resulting in some great passages of play and some entertaining tries. Ollie's hard running paid off with an excellent try whilst both Ollie and Ethan made some crunching tackles. Dan, Toby and Ollie played in each scrum rather than changing players around and I think that helped ease decision making during the set piece. After getting pushed around initially, they settled down and started to hold their ground. I do think that Toby's mum is going to hear the words that every mother dreads, 'Mum, I played hooker today and it was fun'.
Redditch were a well drilled side and were more physical and organised in the mauls pushing us around quite easily. Despite this we managed to run and tackle well resulting in a win to Old Y's by 4 tries to 3.
The second game started in a similar fashion to the first and was tight throughout. Old Y's seemed to rise to the challenge in the mauls and more than held there own, even driving the opposition backwards. The next step is to work on the ball carrier letting go of the ball so his team mates can get it out to those in the backline. Seems like once they have hold of it, they're not giving it to anybody. Josh H did very well, often finding himself in the thick of the rucks and mauls fighting for the ball giving a great account of himself, at times against much bigger boys.
Shane played well at number 2 in the line out and made good distance with his running with the ball, breaking more than a couple of tackles. The lineouts were reasonably even with Ollie and Shane jumping for the ball, Josh H managing to throw it in straight just about every time and Ethsn playing scrum half. Josh T played a good supporting role and made some good runs from a support position. Just goes to prove that if you stick close to the ball carrier you are more likley to get the ball in a scoring position. Special mention for Jake this week. His second game of rugby ever and he made some very good textbook tackles. I may suggest that he goes to senior team training on a Tuesday and shows them how it is done.
Excellent result, well done to all!
Last weekend saw the U8's take on a traditionally very strong Redditch side and, turning up with substitutes to spare, they outnumbered our team of Ben, George,
Frankie,
Will, Leo and, in the nick of time Finn, joining us for his first game of the season.
The early exchanges saw an evenly matched contest with some brilliant running and tries coming easily to both sides until, in the 3rd quarter, Redditch capitalised on the
only 6 tag turnover of the game and went ahead 11 - 10.
The game hinged on the final quarter and with Redditch starting with the ball, they took a 2 try lead. The final minutes of the game saw some determined defence from Old
Yards, eventually forcing a dropped ball from Redditch which Leo Farrell pounced on to take possession, leading to the equalising try. As time ran out and the match went
into the final play, Redditch had the ball and needed to score to win. 10m from our try line, the solid defence from all the players once again pressured Redditch into a
mistake and the knock on and give Yards the ball. A frantic series of tags followed, eventually and breathlessly culminating in a try in the corner!
Everyone played brilliantly, with some forward running (eventually!), some stunning tags (bit more work needed on staying in line!) and a truly determined effort from the
whole team right up till the final whistle.
The honours were as follows:
Leo 5 tries
Ben 4 tries
Frankie 3 tries
George 1 try
Will 1 try
Finn best tag of the match
Final score Old Yards 14 Redditch 13
Your coaches
Phil and Terry
Results
First XV v Exiles in N. Mids Vase won 32-7
Dev XV v Evesham 2s won 38-16
Vandals v Edwardians 2s won 27-7
Under 17 v Camp Hill lost 22-26
Fixtures this coming weekend
Sat 3rd Nov First XV v Harbury away League k.o. 2.15
Dev XV v Willenhall 2s home k.o.2.15
Vandals v Harborne 2s home Merit Table k.o. 2.15
Sunday 4th Nov U 17 v Five Ways home k.o. 11.00
Minis / Junios all training and match next sunday 11th V Bournville
And Finally
A very much reserve team 4-0 behind at Reading, I wonder what the final score would be? Oh yes, Mr Wenger really does know best.
Edwardians 2nds vs Vandals (Merit table) - full match report
Game eight of the season and our fifth Greater Birmingham Merit League fixture found up us on Streetsbrook Road against our near neighbours Old Edwardian 2nds on a fairly brisk Autumnal afternoon.
In the forwards this week Shannon "Steps" Killarney, Rick "Swing" Lowe & Mark "Gethin" Baldwin in the front row, fresh off the beat Andy "Harry Hill" Killarney partnering John "Casper" Lonie in the boiler room, with a back row of so far ever present Nick "the Assassin" Levey, Chris "Golfball" Rowe and Ruprecht "the Major" Young fresh off safari at No.8. At nine Phil "the General" Evans with his long time partner Ian "Nev" Neville at fly half, in midfield Max "Gimo" Gimson & Jace "the Ace" Goodwin with Sean "Squealer" Byrne & Gary "Smokin'" Williams providing the pace out wide with also ever present Dave "Ralph" Rollins shouting at everybody from behind at full back.
With lots of personnel being rested in the higher sides, and the Vandals coming to their rescue, a small bench in Mike "Nearly" Neary, Steve "Mr President" Painter, Alex "Conan" Doyle and a very tardy Pete "Fudge" Butler appearing after kick off.
Not for the first time this season we are presented with uncontested scrums, and having chatted to a couple of their players before & afterwards this would appear a genuine occurrence with prop(s) being elevated into their Ones on the day. Be interesting though if it happens again in the return...who says lightning doesn't strike twice.
Stunt skipper Lonie wins the toss and having consulted Nev who's factored in wind, tides, low sun & probably Hurricane Sandy opts to chose ends and play away from their Clubhouse in the first half, and giving Eds the kick off.
Shannon takes the catch and the Vandal Massive all gather round, but rather unwisely an Eds player decides to try and deliberately collapse the maul by going for Shannon's legs & quite rightly the Stepmeister takes exception and physically points out the error of his ways...penalty Vandals, then reversed... no justice!
We open the scoring about five minutes in, following a good clearance kick from Ralph which sees the ball going out just inside their ten metre line. Nick does just enough at the line to disrupt their ball and they knock it forward, scrum Yards. The Major picks up at the base and goes, offloads to Golfball in support, but the ball goes loose in the tackle and everybody piles in but we get pinged for playing the ball on the floor. They try to run it quickly but spill it in midfield & Jace & Max are all over them like a rash, and then the forwards join in and we turn it over. Rupe digs it out pops it to Phil, to Nev who passes to Shan who sidesteps his man then spins to Ralph who in turn finds Smokin' who takes it into contact, but stays on his feet and gains another yard before offloading to the Major and the heavies gather round and drive infield for the line. The maul proves unstoppable as we cross the Eds line and it's Gethin who emerges with the biggest smile 5-0 Ralph slots the conversion for a 7-0 lead.
We increase our tally further some ten or so minutes later when Eds are awarded a scrum on their ten metre line from which they opt to spin, fullback comes into the line and it all goes horribly wrong and the ball's knocked forward and this time we get the put in. Rupe picks up nudges Nick out of the way and takes it into contact and we get the drive on, in particular from Jace who's obviously desperate to get warm. We cross their twenty two as Shannon comes away with it and does a step, but whistle goes as one of their forwards has come in from offside. Bit of discussion follows but finally Ralph bisects the posts 10-0.
The restart doesn't go ten but Casper can't resist having a dabble, but ref brings us back for a scrum on halfway...were we lucky there, me thinking if John played it all bets were off?? Anyway no matter we split the backs and Rupe picks up and goes with Jace, ball goes loose but Nick Levey tidies up and Fridge joins in support. Phil digs it out passes to Jace, to Nev & he evades the first man, dummies the next and hits the gap. He's tackled but pops it up off the deck and we keep going, but ball is knocked loose and it all gets a bit messy and Jacko decides on a scrum to Eds a few metres outside their twenty two. They opt to spin and their ten brings the inside centre in on the scissors but he's stopped in his tracks by our back row and they're in like Flint & turn him and he's pinged I think for holding on. We kick to the corner ball going out five or six metres from their line. Nick takes it cleanly then has a juggle with it but Casper spares his blushes and off we go towards the line, we stall once but get it going again, with Shannon & (wannabe forward) Jace doing some legwork, we draw the penalty but don't need it as Ruprecht goes over to score 15-0. Conversion just wide.
Halftime 15-0 and I forget the drinks.
It's fairly even for the opening quarter of the second half as we continue to combat cold fingers, the lack of competitive scrums & some "interesting decisions" from officialdom but it's Eds who open the scoring following a scrum just outside our twenty two, Phil's drawn offside, Jacko signals penalty advantage but they don't need it as they spin wide and think it's their centre who cuts through and scores five or six metres away from the posts 15-5 simple conversion 15-7.
With about eighteen minutes to go Nick has to admit defeat with an ankle injury and hobbles off, Ralph goes from fullback to flanker with a look of absolute glee on his face, and Mike comes on at fullback. Soon after Mark comes off & Rick comes back on at hooker and Sean gives way for young Alex on the wing.
In the final ten or so minutes the game begins to get increasingly fractious & gobby as we camp in their twenty two and turn the screw up front; and it's during one of our effective driving mauls with Harry Hill on point that he points' out to the ref that someone is punching him in the back, despite finishing with the word "Sir" Jacko decides that's one comment too many and brandishes the yellow card and off trudges a very disgruntled Andy; and with the resulting penalty they clear their lines. Shortly after Slow decides to introduce his secret weapon in 63 year old impact player Steve Painter and Casper comes off, and the Major slots into second row.
But despite being down to fourteen men we continue to assault their try line and are rewarded with two tries in fairly quick success first the General goes over close to the posts and Ralph duly slots the conversion 22-7 and then hard working Chris Rowe ploughs his way over 27-7 and with the kicking tee gone AWOL it's all a bit hurried as one of their young guns manages to get a palm on Ralph's conversion attempt to deflect it clear, but that's it for today anyway.
Final Score 27-7 Final age 636 and with fourteen men.
Man in the dirtiest shirt this week goes to the Major for a very hard day at the office, virtually picking up every ball at the scrum and getting the try scoring monkey off his back earlier than usual this season.
More GB Merit Table action this week at home v Harborne 2nds.
Finally several of the "core" Vandal haven't crossed the Club's palm with silver yet, I know times are hard but annual subs are the lifeblood of the Club, so fifty quid please as soon as you can to either Mark or myself, and some payment is better than none....it at least shows willing xx
Oh and remember you're all invited to Slow's 50th at the club on the 17th, come even if it's just for ten minutes, the buffet or Shannon's canned tunes from the Eighties!!
Slow