The Extras make it two wins out of the last two by beating Old Coventrians. With many of today’s fixtures across the country called off due to frozen ground, both sides were lucky to be able to play today. The fixture was moved to The Crofts due to Old Coventrians suffering from a frozen pitch.

The Extra’s fielded a mixed side, as did their opponents. The game was incredibly orientated towards the scrum. I would not be surprised that if anyone had taken the trouble to count, the final figure would have been well in excess of 6000.

That being said it allowed our front row to shine. Nick Bingham pummelled his opponent and there can probably be no greater compliment and frustration as a front rower (me being the expert that I am), then to have to back off the gas so you don’t completely break your man. Rich Deaville was the rock on which the scrum depended, while Bingham was the monster that span the Coventrian scrum like a merry-go-round.

The first try came due to a seriously botched clearance from an Old Coventrian. The ball sliced wildly across the pitch and was allowed to bounce by the surprised Coventry winger. Taking full advantage and catching the ball at full tilt, ‘Dudley’ one of Rugby’s journeymen just trying to get a game (great name by the way) touched down in the corner. I think this may have been his only attacking contribution to the game, the rest of us being too busy watching the 756 scrums in the first twenty minutes....

Try number two came after another 4,000 scrums. Taking a break from all the scrums and having a lineout instead, Deaville caught and drove from a set piece move that worked (!!!!!). Ably assisted by Damon Golding, Yorkie made a charge for the line like some great shaggy sheepdog chasing a Frisbee. Alas that he was unable to make it, so James Barker ripped it off him and boshed over from five meters, scoring the try his performance deserved.  Jamie Brown converted.

Try three came after Nick Bingham surprised all of us by going off injured with a seriously fractured fingernail. Ok maybe it was more to with all the blood gushing out of his head, but the former is just as likely. This meant we had to play passive scrums. Boring....

Unfazed by this, Old Leams scored the try of the game. Jake Batsford picked and passed from the back of a scrum, the ball made its way down the backline through the hands of Dudley, Brown, Davies, Maull and Linfield to end up in the mitts of Chris Bishop. Chris had held his depth and hit the line at top speed, gassing his man and touching down in the corner. Jamie Brown got the touchline conversion.

This was exactly the sort of game you’d expect to play after the Christmas and New Year’s period. Everyone was carrying a little more girth and blowing a little more steam than usual. But to come through these games as the winning side is impressive.

This week I decided to give two Barcode Man of the Match awards; the first for Nick Bingham for chewing up two props and in spite of going off injured, the second to Richard Linfield for never putting a foot wrong at Full-back. Linfield was an ever present attacking threat from deep, sending up some hugely impressive up and unders. Equally impressive and worthy of mention is his copious amounts of hair; he might look like a dandy but he doesn’t play like one.

James Barker, Jamie Brown, Greg Williams and Jake Batsford all had good performances, causing numerous amounts of Old Coventrian headaches through their big hits, big running and BIG hand-offs.

A good start to the new years for the Extras, next week sees the side travel to Dunlop where they expect a tough reception having beaten them twice already this season. Game on....

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.....