On a beautiful Sunday morning old pats U11 travelled to Chipping Norton where some of the boys formed a baa-baa’s team with some of the ‘Chippies’.

The first game was full of strong individual running and Old Pats took the lead right from the kick-off, followed by a flurry of tries from rampaging running off quick recycled ball. The long kick-offs from Chipping Norton were often punished by the strong Old Pats running game.

Old Pats were also strong at the breakdown and recycled the ball through multiple phases for a couple of their first half tries.

Chipping Norton stuck at it, with some crunching tackles saving as many tries as were conceded and were rewarded late in the first half with the best try of the game, deftly moving the ball along the whole line before scoring in the corner.

The second half was more of the same with Old Pats showing more impressive recycling and offloading skills, as well as being tested in the tackle by a Chipping Norton team who never gave up and were rewarded with their second try late in the second half.

The second game was a more evenly matched affair with a reformed baa-baa’s team just pipping Old Pats by a couple of late tries in an end to end, bone crunching action filled game which saw the field littered with casualties at one point.

An outstanding tap tackle from the baa-baa’s – which saved a certain try – raised an admiring sigh from the crowd and swung the game in the baa-baa’s favour.
Handling, offloading and rucking skills were impressive on both sides with several tries containing sections of play worthy of Gareth Edwards in ‘73 . The tackles flew in, and the ball was chucked about in true baa-baa’s style open play.

The game was played with such enthusiasm and vigor that even the ref felt compelled to join in, unintentionally charging down the ball with his head late in the second half.

A wonderful day of great rugby skills in a beautiful setting. Well done to all the players and coaches

Chris Brear