Cup Match
North Midlands Vase - 2nd Round
8 Dec 2007
Aldridge Vs Warley
There was considerable elation at the end of this 2nd round cup victory and understandably so. We’d worked hard for it and it was well deserved. Warley were worthy opponents and provided fierce competition throughout and it’s probably simplifying things a bit to say the difference between the two sides was provided by the pace we had out wide. Not surprisingly, with the changed line-ups, it took us a little time to settle down but soon the forwards developed some momentum and the backs started to play with ambition. (Too much ambition for some of us with pace makers on the touchline). Dave Foster set things off with a determined blind side thrust which took him over the advantage line where he was well supported by “Wrongy” who drew the defence and then launched Dan Hall at the line. Dan easily outpaced the remaining straggling defenders and ran in behind the posts. Alex Yates converted.
Warley hit back within 5 minutes, however,
when they forced an attacking scrum and then fed the ball quickly to No10
Holbrook who exploited a yawning gap in the defence to cross mid-way out.
Dan then further enhanced his burgeoning reputation with a brilliant virtuoso
effort when he fielded a Warley 22 metre dropout and again used his pace
to outflank the defence to score in the corner. It was not the best of afternoons
for Warley re-starts when the kick-off from the try was gathered and straight
away returned with interest back between the visitor’s posts. The
kick was well fielded by big Jim Arnold, who directly drove it back at them.
The ball was quickly moved out to the left where Alex set off for the corner.
The cover defence just got to him but he was well supported and the ball
was recycled inside through many hands with Eddie O’Neill returning
the final pass to Big Jim again who smashed over between the posts. Alex
added the extra points.
Two scores in as many minutes and we appeared to be home and dry and would
have been but for some lackadaisical play at the back. The subsequent penalty
and our slow response allowed Warley No 8, Woodall easy access to the corner.
We had a 19-10 advantage at the interval and Warley, who now had slope and
wind advantage reduced the deficit further with some driving forward play
on the right which sucked in the defence and produced space out left. Quick
ball along the backs exploited the overlap which gave right-winger Darby
an unopposed path into the corner. At this juncture they were now well back
in contention, shading the territorial advantages and beginning to stretch
our defence . Luckily we then managed to conjure up the vital killer blow
when we won a crucial 5-metre scrummage on our own line. The ball went back
to “Barney”, who feinted to kick clear but then nipped round
the blind side and fed Alex who set off at pace for the distant try line
which could just be made out in the gathering gloom. He had the speed (with
a bit to spare) to get him there just before the cover defence and the score
essentially sealed the match. As the final period wound down we played with
increasing authority and were unlucky not to extend the margin further.
A good game to watch.
Final score:- Aldridge 24 pts- Warley 15 pts
Aldridge : - Tries: - Dan Hall (2), Alex Yates, Jim Arnold. Conversions:- Alex Yates (2)
Eccleshall:- Tries: - Holbrook, Woodall, Darby.
3,2,1
3 pts - Dan Hall
2 pts - Alex Yates
1 pts -Jim Arnold
Second Team Result:-
Aldridge 25 pts - Birmingham Barbarians 5 pts
2nd XV Scorers - Tries: Mark Smith (2), Mark Robertson, Phil Manders, Lee Stokes
Third Team Result:-
Sutton lV's 22pts - Aldridge 14pts
3rd XV Scorers - Tries:- Mark Large, Steve Broadhead. Conversions:- Mark Large (2)
Next week Aldridge are back on league duty. At Home to Stourport
Kick-off - 2.15 pm
