Rugeley 7 Old Yardleians 54
With this match coming at the end of the school holiday we were short of players and with only 13 players it was decided that we should make the long journey up to Rugeley anyway. After a delay in setting off and a couple of wrong turns we were late in arriving at Rugeley resulting in the kick off being put back to 12.00. As Rugeley only had 15 players themselves, they decided that it would be better to play a 13 a-side match. With it being the hottest weekend of the year so far, the weather ws more suited to cricket than rugby. With the pitch also being very hard it was going to be interesting to see if the lads could last the full hour.
This match was the return fixture against the inexperienced Rugely side after the comfortable win for Old Yards at Tilehouse Lane earlier in the year. Young Ben was making his debut and Richard decided to slot him in at fly half, moving Shaun out to the wing. With only thirteen players the scrum was reduced to six with Michael and Shannon taking it in turns to move out to the wing.
The match was only 3 minutes old when Old Yards opened the scoring and it was a fine score that set the tone for the match. Old Yards won the lineout with George catching and peeling away from the lineout with the ball before passing on to Andrew. Having moved the ball across and down the pitch, Andrew passed on to Shannon who made more ground with a good run before passing on to Mike in this flowing move. With still some work to do, Mike evaded tackles to score in the corner for an excellent worked try.
Old Yards were winning the ball with ease in the scrum and the ball was being passed around by backs and forwards alike, a great sight to see as the players were clearly enjoying their game. It was not long before Old Yards increased their lead and in the 7th minute as Tom kicked on before knocking the ball back to Scott who drove on before setting up the ruck. Callum passed the ball out from the ruck to Andrew who ran on to score under the posts. The try was converted by Shaun to give Old Yards a 12-0 lead.
Rugeley were finding it difficult against their more experienced opponents, especially in the scrum. After 11 minutes Old Yards scored again, this time through Tom after good play by Shannon, Matt and George with the Old Yards captain scoring the try in the corner. Old Yards were playing a very open game and extended their lead further after 23 minutes with another flowing move. Austin made a powerful run before passing to Shannon who made further ground before passing on to Ben who in turn fed the ball out to Andrew. Andrew continued the move running deep into the Rugeley half before passing out to Tom who evaded a tackle before running on to score his second try.
Half Time - Rugeley 0 Old Yardleians 29
Old Yards opened the second half as they finished the first and scored again after 2 minutes as Michael made a good run across field before passing to George who ran on to score in the corner for his first try of the match. There then followed a period where Old Yards were penalised for every minor infringement and even for some they did not commit, whereas the home side went unpunished. From one of these infringements a penalty try was awarded to Rugeley after Old Yards were first penalised to give away a penalty within 5m of the line and then George was adjudged to have come in from the side at the resulting maul. The home side duly converted for their first points of the game.
Old Yards were soon back on the front foot and four minutes later scored a try through George who was looking to make amends for his earlier penalty. After good driving runs and passing by Austin and Shannon, George took the ball on to score after a fine run to the line. With the score at 39-7 Rugeley were finding it very difficult and were forced to make changes through injury.
Old Yards finished the match very strongly, scoring three tries in four minutes. The first was after the forwards won the ball from a Rugeley scrum, with Callum picking up and passing out to Ben who picked out Andrew with a good pass and Andrew broke through the home defence to score under the posts. Shaun was unfortunate with the conversion attempt as he hit the post.
Two minute later Tom scored a solo try as he caught the ball from Rugeley's restart and ran three quarters of the length of the field to score. Shaun again was unlucky with the conversion as the ball rebounded back off the post. Three minutes from the end Old Yards scored again through James. I must confess that I was distracted when James scored and I am unable to give an account of how the try was scored although I was told that it was a brilliant run beating half the opposition team!
The final whistle came as a relief to Rugeley whereas Old Yards looked as though the could have played longer, even though they only had 13 players. Overall it was an excellent display by Old Yards with everybody getting involved in running with the ball and passing.
Full Time - Rugeley 7 Old Yardleians 54
Team: James Lawler, Scott Wilson, Austin Hughes, Matt Willetts, Shannon Killarney, George Bishop, Callum Killarney, Ben, Shaun
Morris, Andrew Cox, Tom Scott, Michael Scott, Alex Patrick.
Replacements: None.
Scorers:
Tries - Tom (3), George (3), Andrew (2), Mike, James
Conversions - Shaun (2)