Bugger. Insert any number of justifiable expletives here because this was close. REALLY close. Old Leamingtonians belied their inferior league status to front up against their local rivals. Both sides played a number of first teamers, but mixed in were representatives from all reaches of the rugby hierarchy. The games started with the referee imposing his authority early on, and Old Leamingtonians gave away a penalty in front of the sticks. Leamington duly took the points on offer. The game never really got going until the Old Leamingtonians captain was sin-binned. In this period Leamington scored another penalty but with Aaron Dudley behind the sticks, the ante was upped along with the tempo and OL’s took it to their rivals. Despite being a man down, it was Old Leamingtonians that scored the only try of the game. Paul Salvin took his personal points tally to 90 with try number 18 of the season. The massive winger collected the ball after Tom Smith had made an initial break through, speeding through some half hearted tackles and touching down underneath the posts to a thunderous cheer from the partisan crowd. Simon Hemming took the conversion. The changes were rung at half time, and Liam Jones took over the captaincy. The blindside, masquerading as a number eight, led from the front and his dogged harassment of anybody not wearing an Old Leamingtonian shirt earned him Barcode “Man of the Match”, his fourth of the season. The rugby played in the second half was great entertainment. Old Leams made some breathtaking advances on the Leamington lines, the telepathic link between Simon Hemming and Dave Canning making for some truly spectacular Rugby. Colin Day demonstrated his ability to catch a pass given at near enough any speed and height, ensuring many a move that could have petered out kept its forward momentum. Jack Secher had a cracker at full-back, never letting anyone through and coming into the line well on several occasions. Special tribute should go to Sean Boyle, coming on for a broken Andy Hemming and wiping the smirk off his opponents face within three scrums. Some people never lose it, and Sean schooled his opposite man. Sadly, this positive play and awesome defence didn’t stop the Leamington fly-half hitting a drop goal with about two minutes to go. Did Leamington deserve this victory? No. OL’s played the better team rugby; Leamington relied on the skill of individuals to make it through the OL’s defensive line. The Leamington scrum half kept all entertained as he threw some ridiculous steps that would have had more of a place on “Strictly come Dancing”. To no effect; the line was not breached and instead they were forced to rely upon the boot. Leamington can count themselves lucky they won today, but win they did and credit to them for supplying the points when it mattered most. Old Leams played well, special credit should go to Tom Smith, adding a balance to the centre that has perhaps been missing, and also to Mike Tattersfield playing his finest game for the senior set-up with several probing runs from deep and some good tackles. It may seem like I am trying to make silver lining inside clouds here but we need to be able to take the positives from our defeats as well as the negatives. Some basic errors and basic gobbyness let us down today. Happily these are things that can be sorted out on the training pitch. Good try gentlemen, we’ll get them next time.....
Simon Hemming crossed for the first of his brace, set up by the garrulous Andy Hall. It is worth saying that ‘Roids’ showed himself a true believer in the spirit of the game and conceded that an earlier try should be disallowed as the AEI scrum-half had successfully relieved him of the ball. Andy Hall successfully converted this effort. Hemming was at it again moments later, scoring again from the venerable hands of Mr. A Hall. The hefty centre crashed over after another James Barker run was successfully set and released. No conversion this time. Try three came from Aaron Dudley. The scrum half finished off a great Jake Batsford break, eventually wrestling the ball away from Paul Salvin to dive over from short range. The first half ended with the Extras in the ascendancy. They had come back from a poor start and were starting to play an appropriate style of Rugby , forcing AEI back with quick rucks and quick hands. The second half saw the points mount up. Paul Salvin scoring a hat-trick and Ian Maul scoring as well. Salvin’s first came from him beating his man on the outside, the skinning the covering tackler with a lovely step back inside. Simon Hemming converted this time, Andy Hall deciding to let other boots do the talking. Salvin’s second had a similar flavour to the first, quick passing after several phases saw the ball end up in Paul’s hands and the winder powered around the outside and touched down in the corner. Tom Hyam kicked a monster of a conversion, having his say in the final score. Try number three came from a sixty metre dash towards the post involving several detours over, around and occasionally through the AEI backline. Ian Maul’s effort came from some well applied pressure from the quickly advancing backline, the winger taking an interception and showing a clean set of heels to AEI’s backline. The changes were rung and Matthew McIntyre gave way to Will Evans, announcing his arrival with a demon of a tackle on the AEI second row, the beastly cad receiving a slap in the chops from the aggrieved AEI player. Old Leamingtonians went to sleep a little in the last twenty minutes, letting the AEI full back find his way through a couple of times. On one of these occasions he was successfully able to off-load and the supporting player scored a try AEI deserved. A win is a win in any book. At times Old Leamingtonians made themselves look a little ordinary, at other times they played good attacking Rugby . Barcode Man of the Match goes to James Barker, making his first appearance in a Gold and Blue shirt for approximately forever. Performances such as this will bring him to the attention of any first team. The guy was a different class. Worthy of mention in despatches are the performances of Tom Hyam and Simon Hemming in the centre, asking multiple questions of the AEI backline with probing runs, incisive passes and some decent kicking. Andrew Hemming, Jake Batsford and Dean Harris played well, the latter again earning the accolade of most annoying player on the pitch with his constant harassment around the edges. This got better. It started out looking like a big pile of steaming manure, and whilst Old Leams never really set the world on fire with breathtaking Rugby , they showed true backbone and guts to turn it around. The rot has stopped, this is something that can be built upon and remembered for the right reasons. It is now the turn of Leamington to face this side. This should be good..........
The Colts were hosts to a strong Nuneaton squad, with additional players from Nuneaton 2nd Team whose game was cancelled. As OL's squad was depleted due to injuries and holiday commitments, two Nuneaton players were borrowed one being a much needed prop. OL's started strongly and the majority of the first quarter was played in Nuneaton 's half. The home Colts defended well and showed strong tackling, resulting in good attacking play by the forwards, simple kicking and good passing moves by the backs. However, Nuneaton exploited OL's the occasional defensive lapse and scored three tries and two conversions resulting in a misleading first half score of 0-19. The Second half saw a number of injuries to OL's players and a 10 minute sin-bin for Ben Palmer. Nuneaton continued to pressurise OL's and showed good passing skills across their backs, this resulted in 2 further tries. The OL Colts again demonstrated their sense of team spirit with Jake Copper showing good leadership as Captain. Eddie Purdoe & Scott Goudie showed excellent tackling skills; Will Johnson & Michael Baylis for good forward play, Mike Tattersfield & Tom Smith for all round play. Jason Hobman was awarded man of the match by Martin Rawbone, who watched and supported the Colts throughout the game
