A cold but dry evening at the Crofts promised perfect rugby conditions as OLs 2XV lined up against Nuneaton Old Edwardians 2XV. This was the second of three Friday night home games for the OLs following their pre-season friendly in August. For the first half of last year Nuneaton were league leaders at the Warwickshire League 1 level, so this clash looked to bell-weather how OLs might fare in the league following promotion last year.

Joe England opened the account for OLs within two minutes following the phenomenal run for Kieran Hazell who crashed through the opposition line at the half-way mark. Both teams looked nervous with knock-ons a regular occurance, but huge hits from Nick Tyler and Laurence May in quick succession helped the development team ease into the game.

The home team kept their width well, and were able to spread the ball wide off a lineout with Andy Boag selling the dummy before scoring to make it 12-0. Some scrappy aerial play followed as Nuneaton tried to get a foot in the game, but this nearly backfired following inspired thinking from James Gorvett to take a quick throw-in and launch and attack up the right wing. No score was forthcoming but this ruse, under-utilised at the Warwickshire League level, looked to be very effective.

Old Eds eventually managed to break through, but Kieran Hazell responded quickly with a return score before being forced to retire to injury. Sean Burke and Tony Reeve impressed on their 2XV debuts, especially once the pack and ref had clarified some of the rules for Tony.

Dominance in the line-outs, led by Captain AJ Beesley and Laurence May then paid off as OLs stole possession and were able to recapture the ball from an attacking kick with Tom Boag scoring to make it 26-5 at the end of the first half.

OLs looked stronger in defense as the game progressed, and Old Eds were clearly riled. Tempers flared around the scrum, with Max McCrickard picking up an upper-cut and a yellow card. A long 10 minutes later he was back on to continue his excellent night’s kicking by adding three points to the tally, putting them to the tactically significant 24 points clear.

The game became one-sided towards the end, in part due to the iron front row of Oli Craig, Archie Walsch and Matt Sawyer. Harry Gardner looked sharp on the wing and was able to offload well. Adam Souster didn’t quite manage to recreate the glory of last week with his attempted miss pass out wide, but nonetheless Andy Boag was able to gather the ball and run one in from half-way, finishing with a duck dive and injuring himself in the process. Pat Adcock and Archie Walsch also scored, taking the final score to 44-5.

Another strong performance from the Dev team as they hold their own in the new league. All eyes are on the big one next week against Leamington Extra, Friday 23rd September, 19:30 at the Crofts.