Midlands Two North – Round 18 Saturday February 10
This weekend Pavs made the short trip over to West Bridgford RFC in round 18 of the Midlands 2 North Competition. The home fixture in October, saw Pavs take a 31-21 victory, West Bridgford were looking to redress matters at their home ground. Pavs were able to welcome back Kieran Wells and Jim Reeson after a short break from the game, as well bringing Dan Hyams on to the front row and Dan Flint on to the wing.
Pavs made a rather nervy start to the game which afforded West Bridgford the early initiative. Having said this the first twenty minutes saw somewhat of a stalemate as both sides searched for the first score.
On twenty minutes, West Bridgford opened the scoring to go 5-0 and extended this early lead with another well worked try on twenty six minutes to go 10-0 up.
Finally, Pavs found a foothold in the game and worked Morgan Jones into position to score and with the George Billam extras draw Pavs close, on thirty eight minutes, at 10-7. Pavs would have taken this away from home, but unfortunately they conceded another converted try on thirty nine minutes to go in 17-7 down at the break.
During the interval, Jonty Green made way for Ben Taylor at scrum half and the wounded Owen Taylor was replaced by a returning Jim Reeson. Unfortunately, Jim’s return was a brief one as he was binned in the first play after the break, after being harshly judged by the official. West Bridgford used the extra man well and scored two more tries on forty seven and fifty one minutes to taka an emphatic looking lead at 31-7.
Back to a full complement, Pavs began to find some form. On sixty three minutes, Jim Reeson and Will Taylor combined well out wide, with Will sprinting into score and bring the score to 31-12. At this stage Pavs lost Tom Gladwin to a cheek injury to be replaced by Danny Green, appearing for his first time on the back row.
On seventy-one minutes, an unfortunate bounce afforded the West Bridgford back row the opportunity to sprint in to score from the halfway and bring the home side’s lead to 36-12. This seemed to galvanise Pavs and they finally began exerting consistent pressure. From a penalty, lineout and driving maul, Kieran Wells crossed the line, for what has become something of a trademark try to bring the score to 36-17 at the seventy seven minute point. Pavs continued to push forward and were rewarded with a penalty try on seventy nine minute to bring the final score to 36-24 to West Bridgford.Â
In terms of raw score, Pavs will be a little disappointed, but these fixtures tend to go with the home side and it has been some while since either team has won the games against each other away.
They will be concerned about an increasing injury list with the latest casualties being Tom Gladwin (cheek) and skipper Doug Billam (thumb), whilst being sorely missed this does, of course, afford others the opportunity to stake a claim to a spot in the 1st XV squad. Pavs have now been away for three out of the last four games and will look forward to being at home against Matlock on 2nd March, 3.00pm ko.
Starting Squad: Dan Hyams, Kieran Wells (1 try), Theo Collier, Tom Gladwin (71 mins), Josh Flanagan, Owen Taylor (39 mins), Josh Alton-Smith (VC), Phil Eggleshaw, Jonty Green (40 mins), George Billam (2 conv), Will Taylor (1 try), Doug Billam ( C,Pen Try), Morgan Jones (1 try), Dan Flint, Matt Molyneux
Impacts: Jim Reeson (39 mins), Ben Taylor (40 mins), Danny Green (71 mins)
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/ .
