SARACENS TRIES 0

SARACENS CONVERSIONS 0

SARACENS PENALTIES 0

OLD PATS COLTS TRIES 3

Ethan J
Aiden B
Sam H

OLD PATS COLTS CONVERSIONS 1

Sam P

OLD PATS COLTS PENALTIES 0

All the kit was brown and the sky was grey, it was a little muddy, in the game today. (Apologies to Mama Cass)

This Sunday we made the trip across town to visit the Cheltenham Saracens. We’d played them in the Colts before this year but their results recently suggested they would be a tougher proposition. So it turned out.

Once again, the pitch was heavy after the rain but it was better than last week’s- at least at the start of the match!

On the plus side, it did stop raining just before kick off but it wasn’t a day to fling long passes, for sure.

We had several lads out, representing the County. However,  we’d picked a strong squad again but had a few late withdrawals from injury or illness and didn’t have quite the strength in depth we would have liked. We  knew they had several really handy lads and the game plan was to neutralise their threat with pressure in defence. We expected a lot of high balls too and duly received the bombardment.

The first knock-on of the game came from kick off and many more followed. A raw day of frozen hands and a slippy ball made for tricky handling. There were a lot of scrums!

We thought, if we could string some passes together, that we could do well and from the first possession with space to run, Sam went through a gap and moved the ball wider. Thomas made good ground with an outside break but was tackled just short. The follow-up from the pack saw Ethan pick and go. Their defence were a little scattered and couldn’t muster sufficient numbers to resist the power. 5-0 after five minutes.

Saracens fly half is a large and talented player. We sent the back row after him and after an early, dominant hit by Sam H he was aware that were not going to let him dictate. He kicked a lot of ball to us- sensible on a day when field position was crucial. From one such kick, our back three combined to move the ball to space and Thomas ran it back, deep into their half. Aiden, on the opposite wing, was frantically signalling that he was unmarked and a cross-field kick-pass found him in space. He had a fair bit to do but managed to get to the line and ground it despite two defenders applying resistance. 10-0 .

There followed a period of attritional defence as Sarries pounded our line with their big pack. Excellent tackling held them out until, inevitably, a knock on gave us the ball back and we could clear.

Half time and no further scores, 10-0.

It has to be said that the second period was one for those who like a forward battle. A continuing series of short carries,  knock-ons and scrums ensued as the two teams gradually became indistinguishable. Persil had its work cut out! Much dogged effort from, chiefly, the pack making tackle after tackle saw us prevent them scoring. Dan H, Angus, Conor and all the forwards put in a heck of a shift. Most prominent, for sheer grit though, was Kai who played the whole game at blind side. By God, he works hard!

Eventually, the ball made it to the backs and a lovely delayed pass to Sam H, at pace, put him through the hole. A swerve past the full back and with the afterburners ignited, he held off the cover and made the line under the posts. The conversion stretched the lead to 17-0 and we were home and not-at-all dry.

We can only dream of the sunshine returning in the Spring, but for now, we are showing that we can dog it out in the mud. I pity the washing machines for the next few weeks! Allez les Pats!

The Colts, once again faced a tough road trip and ground out a muddy victory at Saracens.

Allez les Pats!

Tom Perris