Old Leams finished the season with a flourish, scoring seven tries from a display of all round team work with the ball being moved with speed from good forward dominance and excellent backs play. Shipston joined in the spirit of the game and tried to play open rugby but were given little opportunity to do so by a determined OL’s side intent of rounding off the season in fine style. Despite recent set backs in the league, the manner of this victory again showed what the team is capable of if it play to it’s potential. The first try came after 15 minutes from a break by speedy winger Steven Dealtry wide out on the right. It was to be the first of a hat trick of tries for the young winger who’s speed was too much for Shipston throughout. His second try was scored in similar fashion to give OL’s a 10 point lead. A penalty by Jamie Brown increased the lead before a forward maul allowed prop forward Nick Bingham to break and charge 20 meters to touch down try number three. Half time score OL’s 18 Shipston 0. The second half was almost totally controlled by the OL’s forwards providing good ball for the backs. Captain Luke Staton, again having a commanding game at scrum half scored two fine tries, one with a run from almost half way to score beneath the posts. By now it was mostly one way traffic with OL’s in dominant form. Further tries from Steven Dealtry and Rob Ridler completed the try count and with Mark Foley converting three second half tries, the final score was OL’s 44 – Shipston 0. This was a fine all round performance from home side to round off the league season, but the contributions of Luke Staton and Ben Forrer are worthy of special mention.
The march of the Extra 1sts came to a somewhat disappointing close in Shipston last Saturday. Old Leamingtonians were beaten by a side that were more clinical with their opportunities and more unforgiving with the errors made by the gold and blues. However, there are still many positives that can be taken away from this result. You just have to REALLY want to see them! Continuing with the youth selection policy of last week, Old Leams sent a colt’s heavy side over to Shipston. Making their Extra First debuts today were Jake Cooper at tight head, Lance at loose head, Ben Palmer at second row, Matt Hyam at blindside, Jason Hobman at scrum half and Tom Whelan at outside centre. Tom Hyam and Mike Tattersfield, two players who have already played at senior level several times this season were also included at wing and full back respectively. Bringing the average age up some-what and making his last appearance at in an Old Leamingtonian shirt was fiery second row Toby Godrich. We will miss you and your determined approach to the game big fella. We also need to say farewell to “Monkey Brain” Luke Turner; he too is moving south and will be missed by many. So onto the game. Well, let’s just say it didn’t start so well. Old Leams were exposed several times by some weak tackles and Shipston took full advantage of these mistakes to score two tries inside the first fifteen minutes. It was obvious that this team still had a few kinks to work out of its system... It is also worth pointing out that we perhaps didn’t help ourselves with regards to the referee. But then again, he didn’t help US out much either...........Read into that what you will. Honour was restored and the rot stopped when Jason Hobman scored his first senior try on his senior debut. A break was made by fly-half Aaron Dudley, who made a sublime pass to the lightening quick Hobman. However, Jason was unable to initially catch this finely judged pass, but was able to recover to take the ball and pass to Mark Bisset. Bisset, certain that there was going to be a call for a knock on didn’t put as much effort as he would normally have done into his run, but upon not hearing the expected whistle blow (the ref being fifty or so metres behind) he off loaded to the looping Hobman and the scrum-half was able to score. Tom Hyam was unable to convert. This was better. OL’s had gas to burn out wide; it was just a question of getting the ball to these guys with enough space to beat their men. The strange thing was that OL’s dominated the scrum AND the lineout; it was in the loose around the rucks and mauls that we were let down by some poor management of the breakdown. Shipston spoiled and harassed and the gold and blues were unable to build any form of momentum. The second half was a better story all round. We spent far more time inside the Shipston half, making full use of the slope and the wind. The second try was scored by Mark Bisset, Jason Hobman turning provider off the back of another solid scrum and feeding the hefty centre to crash over in the corner. Try number three was scored by Ian Maull. Again, Hobman took it up the short side from a scrum and the ball was passed down the line to Maull. The winger skinned his man like nobody’s business and plonked the ball down in the corner. Tom Hyam scored a MONSTER of a conversion from the touchline. The less that is said about the indiscipline of the second half the better. But it is hard to control your own temper when the game is being controlled in the way that it was. In case you haven’t noticed I have totally and utterly neglected to mention anything about the Shipston tries. Must have just slipped my mind... In my eyes the colts have a lot to be proud of today. They stepped up to the mark and gave it their best shot. It was not them that were found wanting; it was all of us. Honourable mentions in despatches go to the rampaging Jake. So fired up was this guy that when he was subbed off he legged it over to the nearby third team game and asked if he could play there too! Ben Palmer had a stormer in the second row, making some good breaks and making a good lineout combination with the aerial threat that is Chris Clapham. Matt Hyam played exceptionally well, especially as he was called upon to play after around about the thirty seconds it took for poor old Colin Day to get injured. Better luck next season Colin. Leading the front row was the John “0 points” Carnall and Andrew Hemming. These guys annihilated their opposite numbers, and found themselves in the same boat as the 2003 England World Cup front row; penalised for scrummaging too well! The man of the match award goes to Jason Hobman. This talented youngster had a hand in every positive facet of our game. A superb debut and we hope to see many more performances like this to come in the future. Mark Foley and Luke Staton watch out.... Out wide Tom Whelan and Tom Hyam played well and worked hard, both having better second halves then they did first halves. I believe we will be seeing more of Mr. T Hyam in the senior set up next year. His confidence is not a problem at all, dictating line out moves and back moves to any and all within ear shot! Mike Tattersfield played well; making up for some earlier missed tackles with a couple of scintillating runs from deep. Next time HE WILL PASS THE BALL as well! The much coveted “DoD” award goes to the charismatic Mark Bisset, never without something to say to the ref. The award was a given following his attempted twenty five metre or so cross field pass; nice try Mark! So that is it. The season is over. It is a shame we could not finish the way we started, but the line up for the game against Shipston bears little resemblance to the line-up that took the field against Dunlop all that time ago in September. The captaincy passes now from Aaron Dudley onto the capable shoulders of Dean Harris. It has been an honour to lead these guys and a real pleasure to write these reports. So for the last time, bring on the next lot.....
OLs Third team came up against the usual strong outfit of Shipston Thirds. Shipston started at great pace and their outstanding backs ran in several expertly executed tries. OLs regrouped and concentrated play through the forwards. A strong blindside move enabled winger Cawail Wong to burst through for a try and good work by flanker Steve Cook put second row Anthony Wood through the middle of the Shipston pack for another good try. Halftime score 10 – 45
The second half saw more forceful play from the OLs pack ably served by props PaulBrown and Neil Boag and second row Tony Wood. This restricted Shipston to very little clean ball, but on the few occasions they did gain possession they crossed for 2 further tries. OLs were unlucky not to score again when skipper Lester Hunt was held up just short of the line and winger Murray Styles dropped the ball when already over the try line. OLs competed extremely well and should be congratulated for their efforts right up to the final whistle.
Easter saw Old Leamingtonians blood a number of this year’s crop of Colts in an ‘A’ fixture against familiar rivals Old Coventrians. The visitors started strongly and scored twice in the first quarter through the three quarters whilst OLs struggled to put their game together. Tackles were missed and a large score for the visitors looked likely but an increased effort from OLs young backs , particularly fullback Mike Tattersfield, saw OCs denied any further scores in the first half. The home pack began to excel in both the tight and the loose which enabled the home backs to make an impression in attack, going close to scoring on several occasions. Desperate play from the visitors saw them clear their lines only for OLs to attack quickly and directly with stand-off Rob Marr slicing through to open the home scoring. The first half finished with OCs attacking strongly from their own 22 but an interception from winger Steve Dealtry allowed him to score close to the posts with scrum half Mark Foley converting to give OLs the halftime lead. 12-10 and game on. OCs continued to run the ball but the first-up tackles particularly by Tom Smith and Rob Marr rocked the visitors and strong forward ripostes from such as Andy Davies and Luke Cobb gradually pushed OCs back into their own half. Pressure told and despite losing second row Cobb with a serious shoulder injury OLs looked the likely winners when Foley converted a further penalty to extend the lead to 5 points. No further home scores were forthcoming however and OCs responded vigourously in the last few minutes to score in the corner and leave the game all square. Honours even. The final league game of the season is on 18th. April – kick off 3.00pm, against local rivals Shipston.
OLs ‘B’ team travelled to Old Coventrians with an interesting blend of 2nd teamers, 3rd teamers and Colts. Both sides started strongly and only some well timed last ditch tackles prevented any early scores by either side. OLs eventually did open the scoring with an excellent individual try from Centre Paul Salvin who outpaced the home defence from the half way line. Strong tackling from Colin Day, Dean Harris and skipper Lester Hunt snuffed out all of the OCs back row moves and prevented any home team score before half time. Soon after the restart OCs scored a hotly disputed try in the corner. This only served to intensify the OL efforts and after fine interplay between Jamie Brown, Salvin and Kev Greenhill, Brown went over for a try converted by Greenhill. OLs were now playing some expansive rugby and more excellent running from Paul Salvin led to 2 further tries enabling him to complete his hat-trick. Particular mention must be made of the Colts players who gave spirited and mature performances in what for most of them was their first experience of senior Saturday rugby. Liam Wellings and Steve Pahal ran strongly on the wings whilst Jake Copper, Dan Frazer and Lance Savage gave their all against an experienced and dogged OCs front row. The performance of these youngsters bodes well for the future of the club.
