Midlands North 2 Round 11 – December 17
This weekend Pavs made the trip over to Wolverhampton RUFC in the latest round of the Midlands 2 North rugby competition. Pavs were able to welcome back Jake Baldry, Aaron Langan, Matt Molyneux and Owen Taylor to the squad, while an arm injury to fly half George Billam caused him to sit this one out to be replaced by Harry Kerr at 10.
The home game early in the year was a hundred point affair with Pavs taking the laurels with 53-49 victory. If the spectators were expecting another feast of trying scoring, they were to be rather disappointed on this occasion.
On a “claggy ” pitch, but in warm conditions, it was Wolverhampton who kicked off. It was clear that Pavs were still getting the journey out of their legs as the home side pushed strongly forward in the opening minutes.
After ten minutes, Pavs began to find their feet and attack with purpose and pace. Several attacks ensued as Pavs took over the territory battle and kept Wolverhampton in their own half. Pavs went close on a number of occasions, but were kept out by stoic defence.
The away side began to dominate the scrum and lineout and so give them a firm foothold in the game. As the half progressed the cumulative penalty count for both sides rose exponentially. It was often the case that both sets of players, stood facing each more in confusion than in celebration of winning a penalty.
Late in the half, Pavs finally broke through, with wing Alex Rimmington crossing the try line. Unfortunately, he was harshly judged to have touched the dead ball line, which was visible only in the very extremities of the pitch. Pavs knew they had to keep the composure as the frustration began to build.
By half time the total number of penalties awarded against both sides topped 20+ which may account for the very rare score of 0-0, as neither side were able to establish any momentum.
Half time chat centred around the need to stay composed and to follow the processes that have served them well in seven wins in the last eight weeks. In a change of tack, Pavs endeavoured to get the ball to the width, instead fighting their way through the increasingly muddy middle.
In so doing they were more able to use the pace of the young back line, in particular, wing Will Taylor began to find space as did full back Matt Molyneux. Finally, Pavs were finally allowed to create some momentum which culminated in impressive young centre Morgan Jones jinking and fighting his way to the line and give Pavs the lead at 5-0.
The penalties continued to flow, but by this time both sides had learnt to get on with matters.
Ten minutes later, and following strong Pavs lineout and scrummage, Phil Eggleshaw extended Pavs lead to 12-0 with the Harry Kerr conversion from out wide.
Dan Flint replaced Ben Taylor at scrum half and with minutes left, Harry Kerr himself darted through a gap to score and give Pavs a 17-0 lead. They eschewed the conversion in the hope of getting an opportunity to gain the four try bonus point.
From the restart, Pavs lock Alistair Plant appeared to have been taken out in the air as he caught the ball. Unfortunately, the official seemed not to notice this one and Wolverhampton secured the ball, before driving forward and finally scoring between the posts and bring the score to 17-7 to Pavs.
In many ways, Pavs took another step on the learning curve as they were able to maintain focus in rather trying circumstances and trust the processes that messrs Eggleshaw and Green are trying to instil. One does not often see a game of 35 or so penalties shared between the two sides, thankfully we can say Pavs deserved their win and that is all we can and should say.
Squad- Jake Baldry, Owen Taylor, Theo Collier, Aaron Langan, Alistair Plant, Tom Gladwin, Josh Alton-Smith, Phil Eggleshaw (1 try), Ben Taylor, Harry Kerr (1 try, 1c), Will Taylor, Doug Billam, Morgan Jones (1 try), Alex Rimmington, Matt Molyneux.
Rep- Dan Flint (68 mins), Danny Green (71 mins), Tom Ryan (75 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/ .
