Alcester 20 Old Yardleians 7
On a very wet morning we were all pleased to see that the home side had arranged for a referee after our last match against them. All seemed very well with the ref's prematch talk in the dressing room but how misplaced our faith was. From the very first whistle it seemed that there was one law for one and one law for the other and, in our case, these were applied to the letter. Saying that, our boys performed admirably in difficult conditions and when nothing seemed to go for them.
In the first minutes of the match and with the first tackle Old Yards were penalised for a tap-tackle by Andrew, why is still unclear. Old Yards failed to retreat the full 10m and the referee advanced the penalty on 10m. From the resulting retake, the referee again deemed that the defence had not retreated and moved the penalty forward to a position where the Old Yards lined up on their own line. It was of no surprise that Alcester scored as they played the ball wide to go over the line.
Old Yards were finding it difficult to get out of their own half as they either knocked-on or they were deemed to have passed forward when they had the ball. With the advantage Alcester were playing with a great deal of confidence and moving the ball around well. After 15 minutes the home side extended their lead to 10-0 as they drove over after a period of sustained pressure.
Old Yards started to get back into the game and not allowing the home side to dictate as they had done earlier in the match. Having looked as though they were going to turn around with only a ten point deficit, Alcester scored again 3 minutes into stoppage time, of which there were none! From a drive, Alcester forced Old Yards to touch the ball down behind their own line. From the resulting 5m scrum, the home side played the ball down the line and scored in the corner.
Half Time - Alcester 15 Old Yardleians 0
Richard switched the team around for the second half, bringing on Matt W., David and George D. and switching Shaun to fly half. Old Yards were rewarded for their endeavor and scored after 13 minutes of the half. With a good break down the right by the backs the ball was worked inside to George B. who used his strength to drive over for the try which Shaun converted from near the posts.
The conditions were getting no better from a weather or refereeing point of view. The Old Yards supporters were becoming more and more enraged as decisions were going against the away side. Somehow, the only bad tackle of the match was missed when Stuart was tackled around the neck.
In the 20th minute, Alcester scored again to take the match beyond Old Yards as they drove over for the unconverted try. Matters were not helped when the referee 'sin-binned' Matt W. for coming in from the side after he said that he has warned him previously.
All in all it was a disappointing match but the lads showed a great deal of credit for their behaviour and the effort put in, well done.
Full Time - Alcester 20 Old Yardleians 7
Team: James Lawler, Alex Patrick, Dan Green, Christian Wilson, Tom Carter, Michael Scott, Shannon Killarney, George Bishop, Callum Killarney, Matt Jesse, Sheldon Du Plessis, Andrew Cox, Tom Scott, Stuart Adams, Shaun Morris.
Replacements: Matt Willetts, David O'Grady, George Drabble.
Scorers:
Tries - George B.
Conversions - Shaun