Old Leamingtonians Extra 1st XV made it three games without losing in the sun, wind and rain of Rugby. The score line may read as an Old Leamingtonian victory, but honesty needs to be respected here. This was a Warwickshire league 2 fixture and the depleted extras ended up with only 12 players able to take to the field. No blame is laid here; we are not a professional club and as a result things like this are bound to happen every now and again. In an effort to avoid a similar encounter to that of Broadstreet 3rd’s a few weeks ago, and due to the fact that Rugby St. Andrews wanted to keep their 3 substitutes to maximise their chances of beating us (we had after all tonked them 46-5 earlier on in the season) I decided to concede the result initially so that St. Andrews would lend us a couple of players. Still with me? Basically, as pointed out by returning Welsh/Slovenian lock Greg Williams “Well done boys, we’ve lost before we’ve started!” FINALLY, we got to play a game of rugby. Old Leams began strongly, returning the infield kicks of St. Andrews with some excellent counter running from Rich Linfield, hair a flopping as he went. I am certain he would be faster with shorter hair..... Anyway, the extras were easily the more dominant team in the first half. St. Andrews conceded a penalty which stand in kicker Aaron Dudley was unable to convert into points. However, this was remedied shortly afterwards when Damon Golding crashed over from short range following a break made by Jake Batsford. The back row forward burrowed his way over from the resulting ruck, leaving Dudley with the touchline conversion. By sheer fluke the conversion actually went over, much to the disbelief of the Gold and Blue’s. No one was more surprised than the kicker himself! Alas, St. Andrews scored their only try of the game shortly afterwards. Some weak tackling allowed their nuisance of a backrow forward space to come through the defensive line, brushing off the covering tackler with a hearty slap to the chops. But wait, there’s more! Jake Batsford then scored arguably the try of the game. Greg Williams, fresh from the Slovenian forests and recently revealing himself as a cunning linguist with regards to the language, made a great break from the back of a ruck. He trampled over several tacklers before offloading to the galloping Batsford. A quick phase or two inside the St. Andrews 22 saw the Leeds University player end up ball in hand and heading for the corner flag. Sadly, Dudley was unable to match his earlier efforts and the try went unconverted. Old Leamingtonians sought to keep the momentum going while Rugby St. Andrews seemed to be more interested in arguing amongst themselves. Strong runs from Pat O’Leary, Cawail Wong and Alex Morgan kept the St. Andrews backs busy throughout the game, the second half being no exception. 18 minutes in and Ahhhhh!lex Morgan capitalised on another Greg Williams-ski break to score. However, as he managed to injure himself in doing so I’m certain the overlap looks like a much better option now. This was the point where I decided to end the game. We had lost Richard Linfield earlier on in the half, suffering from an ankle injury caused by the weight of his hair. We had now lost Alex Morgan and a few players back to St. Andrews. Now it was 11 vs. 15 and things could have got silly. We are struggling with injuries as a club anyhow, so that was it. Game over! This was an odd game, one very hard to get into. Good things came from the pack; Greg Williams put asides his 6-nations related misery to play a stormer, Damon Golding didn’t miss a single tackle and looked the complete back rower. Dean Harris made a nuisance of himself all over the pitch, whilst the deceptively athletic Jake Batsford ran riot throughout the day. In the backs, Morgan, O’Leary, Wong and Linfield proved themselves again and again against superior numbers. I am convinced we would have won by an even healthier margin had we have had the full complement of players. Man of the Match goes to Alex Morgan for a commanding display at 10, though Batsford and Williams ran him close. Special mention must also go to Matthew “Donk” McIntyre for his score in the bar. Only three weeks until the end of the season and the Extras are still the most successful side at the club, wining more games than any other senior side. This is a status worth protecting, bring on the next lot!
