5

Tries 1
Conversions 0

10

Tries 1
Conversions 1

Despite injuries and Gloucester representation (against Bristol Bears), we still turned up with a squad of 22 players. The pithy cliché that ‘this was a game of two halves’ is overused, but in this case, it really was; however, we did not know that at the time. There was a cup game being played on the first team pitch, so we were relegated to a squidgy, narrow, and short training pitch next door meaning this was going to be a forward-dominated game of attrition which is not our natural playing preference.

Whilst the final score makes the game look bland, it was anything but and, above all, it was a phenomenal team performance from our amazing lads against a very well-drilled Bredon side.

With 22 players, I can’t mention everyone, but it was an incredible collective effort from ALL our team.

The first half got underway and due to the narrow margins of the pitch, it was only ever going to be a slugfest. We had to admire the well-organised Bredon forwards in both the tight and loose, where they used their technical skills to turn the screw grinding their way towards our line. They were solid in both the lineout and the scrum, which put a lot of pressure on us, particularly our gritty scrum half, Harry Burridge, who coped admirably. In the loose, they were particularly effective at securing their breakdown with a formidable clear-out and counter-rucking us off our ball on several occasions. This meant that they spent long spells camped in our 22, and if it were not for our heroic individual and collective team defence they might have scored on any number of occasions. Our comradery is hard to describe other than to say that in a divided world, one thing we can all agree on is that none of our ferocious young warriors fear Valhalla!!

Even with the constraints of the small pitch, we still used our rare opportunities to counterattack on every occasion. One memorable moment came courtesy of an incredible interplay from elusive winger, Isaac Evans, who found a chink in the Bredon armour to make a break and then offloaded to lock and omnipotent man of the match Charlie Houlston, who thundered upfield before offloading back to Isaac who then found support runner and silky flyhalf, Barney Heath Smith. This attack was only just snuffed out by the desperate Bredon defence, and we were unlucky not to score.

On another occasion, a clever clearance kick from Ben Lord found an acre of space on this back garden of a pitch and Sam Stevens showed his searing pace to follow up and was unlucky not to capitalise on this space finder. Finally, Barney Health Smith showed some individual brilliance with a 50-22 of his own to alleviate a period of intense pressure on us.

There were several players to mention for their efforts in the first half. This was like trench warfare best suited to our human wrecking ball flanker, Charlie ‘The Terminator’ Davis, who put in several “hasta la vista, baby” type shuddering tackles with scant regard for his own wellbeing and his efforts helped keep us in the hunt. Charlie and an opposition player went off towards the end of the half after a clash of heads but both lads survived to fight another day.

We all know the flair that feisty flanker Adam Ryder brings to our team, but today was a game for putting big men down and Adam did not shy away from this physical challenge with a performance to rival Jack Willis in Dublin yesterday. He was everywhere and caused real disruption to the Bredon play, helping to keep us in the fight with his hand-to-hand combat in this close-quarter battle.

Our athletic lock, Jack Cochrane, had another storming game for us, and it is amazing to watch how this previously shy young man has grown in self-confidence to really believe in his own abilities in both defence and attack. None of us has forgotten his wonderful try against Cirencester last year and he remains an integral person in our team and reminds us of the Gloucester and New Zealand legend Ian Jones with his rangy style of play.

Halftime arrived, in what felt like the stalemate Battle of Bredon Hill, with the score at 0-0, which was an impressive outcome given both the pressure we absorbed and the lack of opportunity for us to unleash our dangerous backs in a coherent fashion. The wise men in the half-time Althing focused on the need to be more mindful at the breakdown, particularly for our oncoming powerful loose forward duo of Fabe Karadia and ‘Faf’ le Roux to protect the ball carrier. During the break and rather unexpectedly, the full-sized first-team pitch came available, and the decision was taken to move us over for the second half.

Still, the question remained how were we going to neuter the formidable Bredon forwards? There were parallels to the challenge Laurence of Arabia and the Arab Army faced controlling Turkish-held Aqaba to then open the road to Damascus. Like us, the Allies needed to control Aqaba, but the formidable Turkish guns pointed out to sea which made their fort seemingly impenetrable to a head-on naval attack, much like the Bredon forwards. What they did was to outsmart the immobile defenders by making a near-impossible trek across the Nefud Dessert, attacking the Turkish rear and for which the garrison had no answer to these guerrilla tactics. Similarly, our trek to the roomy full-sized pitch next door allowed us to change our pivot of attack and freed us up to use our own vaunted ‘hit and run’ tactics which were to prove decisive in this battle of fine margins.

As expected, the game opened up, and we were soon in the ascendency with both the slope and breeze in our favour. There were some seriously skilful individual attacks including from Captain Marvellous and centre Alex Moore, who executed a wonderful ‘chip and collect’ over the static Bredon defensive line before offloading to abrasive follow centre Charlie Langmaid, who had to be well tackled to snuff out this dangerous effort.

After more probing, the breakthrough, when it did eventually come, was worth waiting for. From a scrum, Barney, running at a slight angle, took the first phase ball to the Bredon line creating a slight chink. He then passed to Alex at pace on a clever and straight line delivering a stunning Assegai-like thrust to breach their defence wall. Crafty Barney (who was looking rather battered by this stage of the game) stuck with him and was able to collect a short return pass, further stretching Bredon before off-loading to support Sam Stevens, who showed a deft touch with his Lionel Messi dribbling skills to score a wonder TRY under the posts. The pent-up nervous tension exploded with both our team and touchline going almost delirious with joy, and even accompanying canines were frothing at the mouth, showing just how much this score meant to us all with ‘cool as a cucumber’ Johnnie Hogg converting to give us the full and vital 7 points.

7-0 Try by Sam Stevens with the conversion from Johnnie Hogg

Oh Lordy, ominous Bredon looked like they might come back at any moment, and we needed to keep our wits about us. We were then awarded a penalty for an offside on their 10-meter line, a long way out and slightly to the right of the uprights. Without Frans Steyn, who has retired, this seemed like ‘A Bridge Too Far’ to kick for posts and the obvious option was to go for the corner. However, Buffalo Ben Lord, who played like a man possessed today, came forward to say that he could kick us those crucial 3 extra points. Many were dubious, but he hit it like a shuddering scud missile, with a vivid iridescent exhaust behind it, which arced over the Malvern’s, through the Worcestershire stratosphere and then just snuck in to give us a vital 10-point lead against dangerous Bredon.

10-0 Penalty from Ben Lord

A while later, and with the game entering the final moments, Bredon’s winger capitalised on their forward pressure when they moved the ball out wide to score a well-worked TRY of their own in the corner but were not able to convert and the referee blew the final whistle to what was the most pulsating game of rugby.

10-5 Try by Bredon

A special mention to several second-half players. Aidan Bartlett, our part-time Challenger Tank, came on at full-back and made an immediate impact with his fearless tackling and showed his pace and awareness in attack to beat several players, as well as putting in a couple of intelligent kicks.
Outstanding centre, Charlie Langmaid, had another great game for us with his power and pace both in attack and, more importantly, in defence, where we needed his ferocity in the midfield.

Finally, Mr Strong and lock Kai Sherrington put in another grafting effort in both the loose and tight to help us stay in this fight. He’s such an understated player, but we always know when he is on with that added physicality and hardness that he brings to our team.

Wowzers, what an epic morning – you just could not have made this up and thank you to Bredon for their part in this incredible game.

All these boys showed both huge character and huge resilience today with many outstanding players on both sides. The fortuitous second-half pitch change gave our lads a blank cheque allowing us to play our exciting brand of ‘do or die’ rugby but huge credit to the boys who endured the first-half onslaught and kept us in the hunt. Our dangerous and daring ‘thunder run’ continues with our last home game of the season next week against Oxford Harlequins.

We then have Saracens away and then the final match of this special season is at Minchinhampton. Our end-of-season meal on Friday 28th April is going to be something special.

Thank you for the touchline photos, which add greatly to the veracity of the match report. Finally, a tribute to our wonderful mothers. Saying that which mum needs bubbly, flowers, a spa treatment and even a tidy house when you have sons who produce an awesome token of appreciation like this?

Happy Mother’s Day!!!

Hein le Roux