Old Bedians 3’ 87

Buxton 3's 0

The 3’s have pretty much written the match report themselves by a great performance from everyone on the field. It wasn’t just about the scorers of the 13 tries and the conversion kickers. Everyone made a contribution to the tries with the running to release other players, the tackling against a much bigger team, persistence in the scrums, great control and territory gaining in the line outs and the clear support and morale within the team.

So I think I will leave the points to speak for themselves.

There were hat tricks for Andrew ‘Elton’ ‘Lurch’ Welsby and Paul Denton.

Two tries each for Jack and Rob Norton.

One try each for Declan O’Brien, Michael ‘Swede’ Rothwell and Jez Connor.

11 of the 13 tries were converted. 10 of these by Swede taking his match score tally to 25. The other conversion came from Rob Norton - although he did need a previous attempt to help loosen up that kicking leg.

Particular mention should go to Michael Mercer-Cox who played for the opposition who turned up with 12 players making this a 14 against 13 game, changing to a 13 against 13 game as Alex moved pitches to come on as sub for an injured 2’s player.

Also mention goes to Anthony ‘Catman’ Hargreaves for his man of the match award for a crucial performance in the pack for the full 80 minutes.

I think in my first match report I made reference to watching the match on the pitch behind me. But there was no need today with lots to watch and admire. And with my additional duties of sole supporter, water carrier and tee fetcher, I just about had time to keep up with the game and write down the try scores and the conversions. And just in case my first very poor girlie throw of the tee was noted, it was hindered by my chatting on my mobile with my right hand and having to use my left hand!

Sandbach 4’s 17 

Old Bedians 3’s 25

Spring was in the air and spring was in the steps of Bedes 3’s as they dominated the first half of their match against their captain’s old club.

In the first half Bedes took possession from the whistle and didn’t give the opposition much of a chance to score any points. The first half saw lots of running and good support play from all of the team in all areas of the pitch. The whole team worked hard and this led to three first half tries and a penalty kick for Bedes. Stevie Cook was absent on holiday and such is his stature on the team that he needed to be replaced by 2 players – Alex playing at hooker and Rob Dixon throwing in at the line outs.

The early penetrating runs released Rob Norton on his ‘majestic’ run to place the ball beneath the posts for Swede to put over the conversion. This was Rob’s first game after injury forced a 6 month break from the game and his presence and voice on the pitch was certainly beneficial to the team. The second try was scored by Andrew ‘Elton’ Welsby after good long passing of the ball forced an overlap and opened space towards the try line. Good defending during the two short spells of Sandbach pressure on our try line prevented them scoring any points at all in this half. Our third try came from some of this defending with Stuart who was recruited from the 2’s at the last minute being released for a strong run hugging but managing to avoid the touch line despite the chasing opposition. Luck was on Swede’s side as the conversion kick kindly rebounded off the post and over the cross bar.

It would have been difficult to sustain such a great first half performance in to the second half. Although the team did seem to tire in the second half, support came from Anthony ‘Catman’ Hargreaves who came on with a strong performance in the scrum which at times has seemed able to go backwards better than it could go forwards. But what Bedes did do was hold on despite a very different Sandbach team coming out for the second half. Sandbach scored their first try early in the second half and confidence from this led to 2 more tries but with only one being converted. At times the play was scrappy as both teams tired. There were often piles of players and a ball somewhere in there as the mauls developed in to something else. And why was it always the smaller players at the bottom of the pile? We narrowly missed scoring from a number of penalty kicks awarded to us. The aimed for posts and cross bar at this end of the pitch weren’t quite so Bedes friendly as those in the first half. But one kick did make it over and Bedes held on to achieve a good final result of 17-25.

Bedes were a much more vocal team than I’ve ever seen this season, particularly in the first half. The experienced members of the team encouraging and advising the newer members. The structure on the field seemed more organised and there were great performances from the whole team. It was perhaps surprising on this performance (and it did seem to surprise the opposition) that this was only the third win of the season and the first away win.

This is a long one, longer than usual. A little like the match which in fact was 90 minutes rather than the more traditional 80 minutes after a miscalculation of the numbers of the watch of Phil Parker who refereed the last quarter of the match.

Bedes 3’s were all conquering- not only did they put in a great 38-7 win on the pitch against Congleton but they also got the win against the 2’s in the man of the match pint downing ritual (to increase the shame and save you checking the 2’s report it was Simon Dory).

Bedes sustained some early pressure but as soon as they got out of their own half from a good territory gaining kick from Swede, they were away and scoring. The first points were from a penalty kick by Swede after a snatch of the ball by Declan Sealy and some good movement and passing of the ball across the field put Congleton under pressure.

The first try was scored by a great run from Ally James from the half way line after a lineout catch by Phil (who seemed to have found some freedom as his shorts became a skirt in the early tackles). Swede put in his first conversion to start him on his way to his 100% conversion success rate for the match and the 13 points he kicked.

The 2nd try was scored in the corner by Laurie (sorry was chatting so missed the build up to this one) but I’m sure it was all very good and again there was the conversion by Swede. The only points scored by Congleton followed this and were from a converted try. Bede’s final points in the closing minutes of the half came after a high kick was well fielded by Andrew ‘Elton’ Welsby and he carried the ball back in to Congleton’s half. The recycled ball moved through several pairs of hands to Mike Roberts with a good strong run to the corner to score the first of his two tries. Swede’s conversion at a difficult angle was impressive.

The sides came in at half time with a 24-7 score line. A controversial (but admittedly previously planned) substitution of Elton after that fine contribution to the last try caused a little unrest in the crowd. And yes there was a crowd - although at times they could be spotted watching the 2’s game on the next pitch.

The second half opened with Congleton retaining much more possession of the ball and Bedes not getting much of a look in. Congleton weren’t able to use this to score any points and Bedes were settled with a timely Captain’s try by Rob Dixon, again converted by Swede.

With (supposedly) 20 minutes to go there were some changes in personnel. I’m only going to go through them to help show off my increasing knowledge of the different positions on the pitch. Chris Rudd came on as a winger, with James Masson moving from the wing position he’d taken up at half time to outside centre. Anthony ‘Catman’ Hargreaves came on to replace Kilo at prop and put in a great run with the ball. Rob Dixon moved to number 8 to release Phil Parker to referee those last ‘20’ minutes of the match allowing Steve Driscall to play scrum half in the game he’d had to referee for much of the match.

In this last quarter, Mike Roberts scored his second try of the game and Swede gained Bedes their final points of the game with the conversion. Mike’s tries as well as his defensive play made him a worthy winner of the Man of the Match award and gave him the honour of downing that pint.

This was a game of a number of firsts for Bedes 3’s. The first match without an injury, the first we were able to make planned substitutions, the first with Stevie Cook as Vice Captain and the first where we were winning in the scrum. There was also some good taking of the ball in the line outs, releasing the ball in to positions that led to many of the points scored in this 38-7 win. There was also a noticeable improvement in passing out the ball while being tackled and supporting each other in the tackles.

The team were tiring towards the end of the match as was the crowd with frost bite setting in for some with that cold muddy turf to stand on. It didn’t help that the last 20 minutes was in fact the last 30 minutes with that timing issue by now referee Phil Parker. There was lots of good play and individual performances but importantly the team was working well together. My match first match report suggested the need to eat more and perhaps my advice was followed with extra portions of turkey and Christmas pudding over the festive period. There are certainly lots of good performances to look forward to from the 3’s for the rest of the season.

The phrase ‘It’s a game of 2 halves’ was never so appropriate as for the Bedes 3’s game at Didsbury Toc H. Bedes won the first half 8-0 with lots of possession and pressure and Toc H won the second half 29-0 with lots of tries.

Bedes held Toc H in their own half of the field for much of the first 40 minutes. Nick Robinson kicked one of the two early awarded penalties over giving Bedes their first 3 points. The pack worked hard with Rob Dixon moving in to shore up the scrum in the No 8 position. There was lots of good kicking from yet another new recruit Alex (Nick’s mate) to gain territory and some good wins from the line outs. The only times we looked like conceding points were when Toc H were given a bit of space to run. Bedes did well to sustain serious pressure close to their try line and an excellent clearance from Gaz from behind our try line led to Bedes’ only try of the game with James Masson placing the ball over that all important line.

There was some debate with supporters of the opposition surrounding the final penalty of the half awarded to Bedes. The crime was playing the ball on the ground but apparently we hadn’t released it when we should have– or something like that. Anyway we got the penalty and I thought it had gone over. Shows how I much I know. Maybe if I’d applied Rob’s team cry of “fast and faster” to the writing of my match notes, I wouldn’t keep missing so much of the play!

So we come on to the second half. We were unlucky to suffer a number of casualties with subs having to come on for subs. The injury list included a repeat shoulder out of socket issue for Steve Prescott in his first 10 minutes for Bedes and first 10 minutes of rugby for 6 months, yet more injury to the back of Rob Dixon and a head injury knocking out Stevie Cook. But where was the water when it is was needed to bring Stevie round? He had to wake up to insults from his mate on the opposition instead.  

Four of the five Toc H tries in the second half were scored in pretty much the same way with Toc H repeatedly having one man over. They did look a different team in the second half and had the advantage of the wind behind them and the sun in the eyes of Bedes. Yes, there was some sun although it didn’t help thaw out the spectators or help dry off the shorts of those players unfortunate enough to be at the bottom of the pile in the lakes of water on the pitch.

But as I said, it’s a game of 2 halves and we won the first half.

My aim for this match report was to include a little more rugby. Fortunately the lack of rugby content up till now has meant that the opposition hasn’t got any insider knowledge prior to the games. I also probably need to learn more about the rules before I start increasing the rugby commentary. Maybe it’s best to stick to a girl’s approach to match reports for now. But thanks to my lessons on Saturday evening I’ve now sort of got the off side rule and think I can just about remember all the positions on the field (provided the players look like the pint glasses, empty bottles and crisp packets used in the lessons). We’ll have to see if I can remember them for my next match in January. Merry Christmas.

The prediction was that it wouldn’t be long before we won. And it wasn’t. In fact Bedes only had to wait till their next match to get that first win of the season and for some the first win of their careers. And I was there.

There had been attempts by Leigh Prescott to recruit Fergus Slattery (ex Ireland and British Lions flanker and speaker at the previous evening’s Sportsmen’s Dinner) in to the team. But we didn’t need him as Bedes put in a great performance all over the pitch. This was probably the most complete all round performance of the season so far and that well deserved win was finally achieved.

The 2 Bedes tries, one in each half were brilliantly scored by new entry to the team, Gwillian. Both tries came from spells of particularly good team play with the ball being spilled out for him to run to the try line. He got the ball, put his head up and ran leaving the opposition (as well as his fellow team mates) far behind. The first try was converted by Charlie and the second by his replacement Nick Robinson after having to go off with a hamstring injury. This was unfortunate as up to then Charlie had been impressive in his first match at fly-half but fortunately for us Nick Robinson was equally up to the job. The only other scores were a penalty for each side with Nick getting a particularly difficult kick well through the posts.

Apart from their penalty (Rob still denies it), Aldwinians never looked like scoring. There was some late pressure but Bedes defended their try line well with good kicking and keeping the ball and the opposition down on the ground.

There were some new members of the team who put in excellent performances. A few of the regular players also showed lots of good promise in new positions. And for once we had plenty of subs available for the game and we needed them especially when Alex and Simon took each other out of the game in the dying minutes of the first half with an impressive clash of heads. A number of the players were also finding their voice with the inexperienced Stevie (his own words) running some length of the pitch to give some friendly advice to skipper Rob Dixon!

Prior to his departure Alex had worked hard all over the pitch with lots of great tackles which earned him man of the match. Personally I think it was a bit harsh to get him to down his winner’s pint when the room was still looking wobbly from that head clash.

So as requested I was there for that first Bedes 3’s win. It might have been cold and just a little bit muddy but it was warm in my heart as that final whistle blew!

A suggestion has been received for an opening paragraph to this week’s match report (thanks Rob Naughton). I’ll give you the edited version and I’ll let you join the following phrases - 1st team star…… recurrence of hamstring injury during the warm up ……..not making it on to the pitch. He did though make a contribution from the sidelines with lots of advice for the players on the field as well as a giving me a line or two to use in the report.

The team coped with this early loss though and put on an excellent performance. The final score line of 25-13 to Heaton Moor doesn’t do justice to the amount of hard work everyone put in and the great performances by all.

Heaton Moor were the first to score after our defending of our try line couldn’t hold out any longer. The first Bede try was a great team effort with Michael Rothwell touching the ball over the try line and narrowly missing the conversion.  The kicking for both sides on the pitch was the first victim of the chilling strong winds chasing across the pitch. The second victim was the line outs. How Stevie Cook was meant to throw the ball at a perfect 90 degree angle to the touch line was anyone’s guess. The ref clearly thought he should have been able to predict the effect of the wind and repeatedly blew his whistle. Anyone’s guess also applies to the calling out of fruits in the much more organised and well drilled line outs. They certainly confused me. All I can say is pomegranate?!

The suspected ankle injury around 25 minutes in to the first half proved unfounded as it was an injured boot that caused the retirement of Dave Kay. I personally think he was just wanting a cigarette and pulled a lose thread! A successful penalty kick for us nearly took us to half time with a 8-5 lead but a last minute conceded penalty meant that we went in to the second half 8 points each.

The second half saw some changes in personnel with James Hennigan replaced by Aidan and Martin Duggan replacing the injured Anthony Hargreaves. It might have been commented (by Rob Naughton!) that his run off the pitch following his head injury was far quicker than any run he’d ever achieved on the pitch while playing!

There were 3 tries in the second half from Moor, only one of which was converted. There was lots of good team play from Bedes and they were very unfortunate not to get more points on the board (well my piece of paper anyway). Turnovers were being won, we were getting close to the Moor try line and there was some good chasing down of the ball, tackling and passing. Bedes had a great try from Laurie after a period of particularly good play from the whole team.

Man of the match went to Pat Dohertyfor his performance as flanker. He was everywhere he should have been and everywhere else as well, getting involved in the play all over the pitch. As impressive as this was, it was nothing to his ability to down the winner’s victory pint. He says he likes to do it in less than 3 seconds! And it was.

As I said before, Bedes deserved a better score line than 25-13. You could easily see the benefit of the team having now played a few matches together and getting to know each other more. There were lots of good supportive comments from the opposition acknowledging that we are a young team and that it won’t be long before our first win if we carry on playing like we did for the 80 minutes in this match.  And it won’t. And it had better be when I’m there as I’m starting to say ‘we’ rather than ‘they’ - anyone would think I quite enjoyed it! 

Oh and the ref looked lovely in his pink shirt….

 What more could a girl wish for –big athletic muscled men running round a rugby pitch. Unfortunately for me that was on the pitch behind! My job was watching our young thirds play against Stockport 4’s. Female and writing match reports – not quite sure how that one works but here’s my attempt.

Our young team was up against the physically larger, more mature and experienced team of the Stockport 4’s. There was lots of good early territory and possession by us in the first 10 minutes close to their try line. Some good well worked opportunities couldn’t be converted in to points with Mike Roberts  being close to scoring a try. Against the run of play a snatch of possession by Stockport resulted in a good run and the first of their three first half tries. A stern talking to from the skipper (for that read ‘shouting at by Rob Dixon which could be heard at the opposite end of the pitch’) unfortunately didn’t rally the team and stop another quick Stockport try. The thirds faired much better when making runs at the opposition and a good run from Rob set Michael Mercer-Cox (a late recruit who had been lined up for the seconds) up for a try well converted by Michael Rothwell. They held on till close to the end of the half when a third converted Stockport try took the score to 17 – 7.

Another injury early in the second half to our scrum half Jez Connor(another late recruit from the seconds) with no replacement meant the thirds played most of the second half with just 14 men. Some changes in position were needed with Kemal Haque moving in to play well in the vacated scrum half position. I have to admit to losing a bit of focus on the match while trying to do my Florence Nightingale bit so I’ve not quite as much to say at this point. There were two more tries and a later third converted try from Stockport 4’s good powerful running with the ball. A late Bedes try by Rob after a period of good play and possession was again converted by Swede and took the final score to 34 -12.

For a lot of the match the tackling from the slender frames of our thirds didn’t have much of an impact on this much bigger opposition. Changes in personnel in the scrum later on in the game helped us win more of our own put ins.  There were improvements in aspects of play from previous matches – more winning of our own line outs with good throwing from Stevie Cook and some good individual performances with growing confidence. James McCloud in his debut as prop, came on to replace the injured Sean O’Rourke in the first half with a sterling performance and seemed to find his confidence in that position (as if it wasn’t obvious, I had to ask advice for these bits of the report!). There is lots of potential from the new and younger members of the team which needs to be balanced with some more experienced players and a regular squad of players to pick from and turning out for games.

Man of the match for the team went to Andrew "Elton" Welsby at fullback for his role in the first try in clearing the ball to Rob, some good catching and being solid under pressure at the back.

On a final note having seen the team lined up outside the club house shortly after the game having a post match team smoke - more food; more muscle and less nicotine!