This weekend Pavs made the short journey over to table topping Long Eaton RFC in Midlands 2 North. As this was a first versus third clash, there was a great deal of local interest, resulting in a large and vociferous crowd being in attendance. Long Eaton had taken the points in the home fixture in a close encounter, so Pavs were keen to redress matters.
From the kick off, it was Pavs who grabbed the initiative with some enterprising and speedy back play. This resulted in several opportunities to score. Unfortunately, two of these were nullified by the official when it looked like Pavs had touched down.
As these things tend to happen, the home side then found a little territory via a series of penalties before piling over to score and take a 7-0 lead on twenty five minutes. One of Pavs developing qualities this season is composure and patience. They accordingly reset before heading back into the Long Eaton half and were awarded a penalty which was converted by George Billam to bring the score to 7-3 on thirty three minutes.
Pavs continued to press, but were unable to advance their score before half time.
Unfortunately, Pavs made a couple of enforced changes during the break with Dan Flint replacing Matt Molyneux and Danny Green replacing Will Taylor, both of whom had suffered muscle injuries.
At the start of the second half Pavs were resurgent. On forty seven minutes skipper Doug Billam finished off a fine move and with his brother’s conversion gave Pavs the lead for the first time at 10-7.
On sixty minutes Long Eaton struck back with another forward drive and so retook the lead at 14-10.
Pavs continued to move the ball wide with the back line stretching the home defence, particularly the pacey partnership of Morgan Jones and Doug Billam.
On sixty three minutes, Doug Billam again finished off another fine drive and with George’s extras gave Pavs back the lead at 17-14. Predictably, Long Eaton struck with their best sequence of the game scoring to put them back in the lead at 19-17 with fifteen minutes left.
Both sides knew that any mistakes could probably cost them the game. On seventy-six minutes, Pavs moved the ball wide with Jones and Billam making yards, before Phil Eggleshaw went for the line before offloading to George Billam to go over. He then added the conversion to give Pavs a 24-19. Long Eaton’s kick off went a little awry and from the ensuing successful scrum George Billam punted the ball into the crowd to signal the end of the game and a well earned victory for Pavs.
So a top win for the boys. They have now won nine out of the last ten and are beginning to look a classy outfit who try to play rugby in the modern way. Credit must clearly go to coaches Phil Eggleshaw and Jonty Green as well as Pat “The Guru” Billam in setting the tone and all of the squad for buying into the ideas they bring. Next week Pavs travel to Tamworth for a rearranged fixture hoping to carry on the good form that has brought to third in the league. Onwards………!
Starting Squad: Dan Hyams, Owen Taylor, Jake Baldry, Tom Gladwin, Theo Collier, Josh Alton-Smith (VC), Josh Flanagan, Phil Eggleshaw, Jonty Green, George Billam (1 try, 3 conv, 1 pen), Will Taylor, Doug Billam (C, 2 tries), Alex Rimmington, Matt Molyneux.
Finishers: Dan Flint, Danny Green, Tom Ryan.
This coming Sunday, January 21st, Paviors Under 16 Women face Cheltenham North Women in the Midlands Cup competition. This is the first time a Paviors team has reached this stage of the competition. The kick off at Burntstump is 2pm and all spectators are welcome.
Paviors Rugby Club play at Burntstump Hill, Arnold, NG5 8PQ and the club runs over twenty teams.
New players are always welcome – girls, boys, men & women, there is a team for all.
Further information about the club including contact details can be found on http://www.paviorsrfc.co.uk/ .
