BREDON

TRIES 0

BREDON

CONVERSIONS 0

BREDON

PENALTIES 0

OLD PATS COLTS

TRIES 7

Tom U X 4
Charlie L
Barney R
Charlie H

OLD PATS COLTS

CONVERSIONS 2

Sam P

OLD PATS COLTS

PENALTIES 0

The Colts continued their winning run with a strong performance at Bredon Star

Despite the proximity to the river, today’s trip to Bredon gave us a firm pitch and sunshine. Great news!

We’d rotated from the previous two squads as illness, injury and inadequate playing time forced changes. That’s ok, we have a large and talented squad and we like to use all of them.  We had a few boys playing representative rugby at higher levels too which shows the amount of talent we are lucky enough to call upon.

We gave the captain’s armband to Ben Lord today. As he does with most things, he took it in his stride! All part of the development of players that we try to foster.

From kick off we attempted to apply pressure but the match was a little slow to ignite as both teams were hampered by the strict application of the law from the official. Eventually, some rugby broke out and we strung together a few phases.   From a maul close to the line, Charlie L nipped across the line. What our fullback was doing mixing with the beefy boys is anyone’s guess but we were up and running.  5-0

The pre-match talk was of sticking to our plans- intensity, work rate and defensive pressure. A forced knock on gave us ball and advantage. Several phases of pick-and-go pulled the defence narrow until the backs were released.

Tom Unsworth has been an Old Pat since he was a very small boy. He’s considerably bigger now. Today he was superb. Frankly, he looked like scoring every time he got the ball and was a class above most others on the pitch. A cut-back against the drifting defence and a step inside put him through and under the posts for his first try of the afternoon, duly converted. 12-0

Tom’s partner in the centre, Tristan, was also looking lively and some nice hands gave him space to run. An inside ball to Tom who beat several more would-be tacklers and we had our third try.

Another penalty for hands in the ruck allowed Sam to kick deep into the corner. The maul formed and trundled powerfully towards the line. Barney, liberated from front to back row today, was in possession as we went over and the bonus point was ours in the first half. 24-0 at the interval.

The second half began in curious fashion as Bredon kicked deep into our half. .Ethan was adjudged to have obstructed a chaser and this infringement was deemed worthy of a yellow card. So we spent a period down to 14.

Our fresh legs, on at half time, were sufficiently lively to resist the numerical advantage and from a penalty, we were able to kick deep into their territory. Another nice lineout catch and drive gave the backs time and space to play and, almost inevitably, Tom, on a short line crashed through the defence to score his third.

The size of our squad and the fact that we can continuously roll on fresh players is a significant advantage. As the opposition tire, we are able to dominate late in the game. Bredon had a few lads taking knocks as fatigue caught up with them.  One to their prop required scrums to go uncontested as they were out of replacements.

We couldn’t contest the scrums but the loose was another matter. Both Conor and Finn are big, physical units and both were still running hard. Connor charged through scattering defenders in all directions on several occasions and Finn , returning to his best after shoulder problems, was also prominent. Add Ethan into that mix and it’s no surprise that we were making ground.

As we attacked deep into the corner, the referee decreed that no advantage was coming (?) and pulled play back to a previous infringement. A quick tap and Sam released Tom once more for his fourth and final try. 34-0

The pack, sick of the sight of the backs having all the fun, kept it close and tried multiple pick-and-go surges. Brave defence held them out but eventually, the resistance broke and, Charlie H was the man in possession to cross for our seventh and final try.

Thanks to Bredon for an excellent afternoon . They, like us,, just want to see lads having fun playing rugby. On to next week and a top of the table clash vs Longlevens.

Allez les Pats

Tom Perris