League Match-Midlands 5 West North
12 April 2008
Aldridge v Eccleshall
It was another of those might have, should
have, could have sort of days. We got the dream start but unfortunately
our opposition got the dream ending. In between it was a hard fought and
competitive game with some good flowing rugby from both sides. We stuck
to the task well, obviously desperate for the win which, apart from a couple
of lapses of tactical nous, would have been well within our scope.
The dream start came from the kick-off. “Big Jim” fielded the
ball made some yardage then handed on to Tony Jaep. Then quick hands via
“Forrest”, Ben and on to “Barney” who had the space
and pace to take the ball through the defence and on up to the goal line.
A slick inside pass put the rapidly following-up Tony Jaep over close to
the posts. Alex Yates added the extras and there we were 7 points up with
the sound of the starting whistle still echoing around the ground.
We had plenty of territory in this early period and there were chances about
but it was the visitors who scored next. They worked their way back up the
field, won a penalty on the 10 metre line and while we were still debating
the decision, took it quickly, fed it out to winger Richard Snell, who easily
shook off the cover tackles to score in the corner. We responded strongly,
were using the ball well at this point to establish territory and pressure
the line. “Mo” quickly tapped a penalty 10 metres out, was stopped
just short but Eddie carried it on over with a little help from some concerted
shoving by a quickly following up pack. Another 10 minutes on and Eccleshall
were awarded another penalty in an identical place to their earlier one.
It was déjà vu - quickly taken while we debated and Snell
over in the corner again for his second. A penalty from full back Sam Christmas
gave them a 13 – 12 lead at the break and this was increased further
with another mid-way through the second half. We were still well in the
game though and once more approached the line. A short period of siege,
then with the ongoing forward exchanges becoming disorderly, the play was
quickly switched blind with a long pass to give an unmarked Alex Yates a
run into the corner. He also converted with a magnificent effort to put
us back in the driving seat with ten minutes to go. The visitors hit back
2 minutes later with a fine try. Receiving quick possession off the top
of a line out, a long miss pass in the centre completely neutralised our
defence and put winger Mark Carr over unopposed into the corner. With the
clock running out, some determined continuous driving play got us up within
range. A misdemeanour around the ensuing forward exchanges won us a penalty
which Alex duly slotted to give us the lead and what should have been the
match. Not surprisingly Eccleshall thought differently. They kicked long
from the restart which forced a 22-metre drop out. This was charged down
and quickly fed back to No 10 Simon Ashcroft who’s snapped drop goal
virtually on the final whistle sealed victory for the visitor’s by
the narrowest of margins. At the start, a win for us could mathematically
have saved our season. As it turned out the other result didn’t go
our way anyway. It was a great effort but gutting never the less.
Final score:- Aldridge 22 pts - Eccleshall 23 pts
Aldridge Scorers: - Tries: - Tony Jaep, Alex Yates, Eddie O'Neill. Conversions:- Alex Yates (2). Penalties:- Alex Yates
Eccleshall Scorers:- Tries: - Richard Snell (2), Mark Carr. Conversion & Penalty:- Sam Christmas. Drop Goal:- Simon Ashcroft
3,2,1
3 pts Tony Jaep
2 pts -Alex Yates
1 pts -Mo Harbutt
Second Team Result:-
Aldridge 32 pts - Eccleshall 0 pts
Aldridge Scorers:- Tries-Lennie Jaep (2), Paul hubbard, Mike Porter. Greg Raybould. Conversion- Greg Raybould
Eccleshall Scorers:-
Third Team Result:-
No fixture
Next week Aldridge have a club fixture away at Bromsgrove 2nds
KO 3pm
