Old Yardleians - Latest News

A CRUCIAL WIN AT BLOXWICH

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 12:00:32 GMT

First Team Match Report

Opposition: Bloxwich (Away) Result: Bloxwich 5 - OY's 28

6^th March 2010

On Saturday, OY's bounced back in convincing style from last weeks disappointing performance against Newcastle (Staffs) with four tries and an improved performance away against a hard and uncompromising Bloxwich side whose forward power gave the OY's problems throughout the match.

The home side's rugged approach to the game was evidenced after six minutes of the first half when a Bloxwich second row forward was yellow carded for over vigorous use of the knee, and with the advantage of numbers, the OY's began to dominate, and enjoy quality possession. Telling breaks were made by Lee Purdey and Mick Brennan, well supported by Steve Grainger. Stand off Ben Honey made good use of quick ball, with the back division well organised to take advantage of some well directed tactical kicking to turn and pressurise the opposition.

After 13 minutes, from a scrum 30 meters out, Lee Purdey took advantage of a poorly defended blind side to make the break, commit the full back and put Adam Walker in for the first try, to be converted by Ben Honey.

Two minutes later, again from good scrum possession on the half way line, Ben Honey worked a short inside pass to left winger Andy Pearce who took the ball at full speed and was through. Again, with only the full back to beat, the pass was well timed to Steve Grainger in support, who made no mistake with a try under the posts, converted by Ben Honey.

Despite now coming under pressure in the tight, sufficient quality ball was being won to pose Bloxwich severe problems, but a golden opportunity to go further ahead was wasted following an aggressive break and drive by Phil Painter into the Bloxwich 22, when the ball was taken back into traffic instead to being fed out to winger Adam Walker, in position unmarked and with the line at his mercy.

Following the break, Bloxwich were right back in the match through their forwards, with the OY's generally outgunned in the tight, struggling to maintain their own lineout possession due to some wayward throwing in, and being driven back in the loose through some well organised forward drives. Although this gave the home side some useable possession, their attacks with the ball in hand were well stifled by solid first line defence up fast with additional harassment being provided by the back row.

On 23 minutes, from possession won on half way, Ben Honey mounted an attack through the backs with fullback Jim Hendricks coming into the line as a decoy runner. Inside centre D Brain's perfect looped pass missed the two players outside him, to be collected by right winger Adam Walker who, this time with men to beat, did so and went over in the corner for his second try. Ben Honey converted well from wide out to bring the score to Bloxwich 0 - OY's 21.

Two minutes later, a midfield break by Steve Grainger was turned over due to lack of support, and to counter, Bloxwich elected to kick ahead, but a misdirected effort went straight to left winger Andy Pearce, who took on the cover from 50 meters out to score a spectacular try in the corner. Ben Honey, who by now couldn’t miss if he tried, made no mistake with the conversion.

On 27 minutes, second row Phil Painter, still nursing a neck injury, gave way to Dave Langley and hard working hooker Billy Bucknall was replaced by Luke Harris. Shortly afterwards fullback J Hendricks, a little out of touch this week, was replaced by A Walker moving from the wing, with his position being filled on the right by the promising Sam Richards

Although Bloxwich continued to dominate the tight, and were still on top in the loose, the OY's were beginning to steal their lineout ball through the efforts of M Brennan, and this, together with very sharp defence stifling any attacks, the home side allowed frustration to creep into their game, to the extent that their Stand off earned himself a red card, for allegedly making a crudely disparaging remark regarding the referee's eyesight.

Five minutes before the end of the match, a second certain try went begging when Steve Grainger, again quickly up in defence, charged down an attempted kick over the top, to find the ball at his feet, and the line at his mercy. An attempt to control the rolling ball and hack it over the line with the feet failed miserably with the ball squirting tamely into touch, underlining the wisdom of his decision to pursue rugby, rather than the round ball game.

Despite the scoreline, and their reduced numbers, Bloxwich were not going to go down without a fight, and to their credit, their forwards continued to batter the OY's up front, taking play to the OY's line. Second row Dave Langley was yellow carded for failing to move away after a tackle, and consequently the OY's, now weakened up front, were unable to contain a determined set scrum drive with the Bloxwich No 8 picking up to score a deserved try in the corner.

With the conversion failing, the match ended with a score of OY's 28 – Bloxwich 5, which was a fair reflection of the OY's dominance in open play despite being under, but coping with, significant pressure up front. The side played to their potential, created good chances and took them well, and can be satisfied with the result, which could have been even more emphatic but for the two missed chances.

Meanwhile back at the ranch, our Development team waited for Aston Old Eds and waited and waited and eventually practised some moves and then retired to the bar.

The over 45s aka the Vandals travelled across town to Sunnyside Avenue and played against Aston. The captain's report follows. I think that he does himself a lack of justice both as team manager/captain and as a reporter. There have also been glimpses of rugby playing ability according to rumours.

Our eighteenth competitive game (yes it really has been that many) took us over to Aston Old Edwardian's Sunnybank Avenue ground on Saturday with a pitch in parts that amazingly given the recent wet weather resembled a beach volleyball court.

Having had all manner of problems regarding our front row this week. My original plan for Rog to play tighthead (for the princely sum of a can of Coke & two fingers of fudge for the kids) myself to hook (uncontested obviously) with Shannon playing loose was luckily averted when Ed's third string cried off late having forgotten to ring each other or some such maladministration freeing up John Terry wannabe Greg Allen to dash over to hook.

The back five comprising John & Phil in the boiler room for the eighth time this season and a new back row combination of Nick "the Assassin" Levey & Marcus "the Hit Man" Hope, both living up to their nicknames covering lots of yards and making loads of tackles all afternoon, with "the Major" Rupert Young at No.8.

The General as always providing the link with the attendants, with Gary "Smoking" Williams directing traffic at fly half after a few weeks out and Chairman Fitz at inside centre returning after his gunshot wound, alongside the Exocet Coatesy.

In the back three a welcome first outing for Simon "the Time Lord" Davis on the wing who thought he'd like to treat himself to a game for his 44th birthday, with Ralph (only scrum half to go now) joining him on the opposite wing and Mike "Nearly" Neary as last man standing.

Captain Slow loses the toss and Aston unsurprisingly elect to play up the dune in the first half.

Having had a ten day lay off the first ten or so minutes was a bit of a touchy feely affair with neither side really making any big sand castles, with a lot of cunning international tactics being employed, and the ball being hoofed up hill and down dune.

An interesting match up at 9 saw the General up against a lad young enough to be his love child and not old enough to shave, but Phil showed him that a good oldun can still show a good youngun a thing or two leaving him (and our support) standing on a couple of occasions setting off on several of his now trademark mazy breaks.

Unfortunately, after 12 minutes (very precise he was there) of his comeback Chairman Fitz was again a victim of the sniper on the grassy ok sandy knoll coming off with a pulled calf and Captain Slow comes onto the wing indecently early with Simon moving into centre.

The deadlock was finally broken just after the twenty minute mark when a loose ball in Aston's midfield and just inside their half saw Coatesy pounce and kick ahead collecting the ball from his laces and gassing the defence to score midway out for Ralph to convert for a just about deserved 7-0 lead.

We were unlucky not to increase our lead when Rog rumbled over from short range only to have it disallowed by the ref (in his first game incidentally) after claiming Roger had made contact with him on his way to the line!?

With the Major jumping at two and Big Phil dominating in the middle, our lineout was taking most things aerial in no small part thanks to Greg's throwing in and either snaffling or disrupting anything on Aston's own throw. Similarly our scrummage was more than a match for the Aston eight with increasingly good quality ball following, with both Smokes & Lee making lots of breaks and Simon's baseball bat to Lee's rapier approach breaking all but a few first up tackles.

With about five minutes to half time, we were awarded a penalty about twenty metres out which General Evans takes quickly spinning it to Shannon in support who in turn puts "Nearly" in at the corner for a 12-0 lead. Conversion just missed.

Half Time 12-0

In the opening minutes of the second half our forwards began to exert more and more control and Aston begin to hinder their own cause by breaking their own players; first their young openside with concussion and then their second row with ribs and so are forced to bring on their colossus the aptly named Big Mick who makes Rog look positively anorexic, and who spends most of his time killing the ball by toppling over it. Their play also begins to become increasingly predictable with their fly half opting to kick more often than not, which are all swept up by our back three (don't worry I'll come to mine later).

About ten minutes in sees our forwards camped just short of Aston's line and following a series of short range drives it sees Nick just stopped short but manages to get the pass away to Ralph who shows how it should be done going over wide out. 17-0 Ralph just fails to convert his own work. But we are now well in control.

Then one of those great bits of skill in a game that stays in the mind, the ball was spun out to Simon who appeared to bend the laws of time and space holding the ball it seemed for an eternity completely fixing their defence before releasing the ball to Ralph and we make more valuable yards.

Shortly after another great series of passes sees the ball fly through the hands of the backs to Mike coming in on the overlap to score his second try in the corner. Ralph's conversion is just short. 22-0

With about fifteen minutes to go John opts to collect his slippers and on comes the Colt Arkell, having delayed his appearance by five minutes so as to have another fag.

Another free flowing move in the threequarters sees Slow trying to catch Coatsey's miss pass in his mouth with the try line begging rather than using the bars of soap I was born with, and yes it bloody hurt both my mouth and my pride. I did take the referee to task in the bar afterwards as he had given a knock on and a scrum against us when quite clearly I was trying to outwit the covering defender with an unorthodox but quite legal method of propelling the ball forward, in fact through the tears I noticed the ball ended up going out a few metres from the line and I'm sure we'd have scored from the lineout. Even those mercurial players Gregor Townsend, David Campese and Stuart Barnes had their moments where a piece of brilliant and intuitive piece of skill had come to nought.

Anyway shortly after to make up for it and having seen Mike do it earlier I try to be clever in calling a mark only to see the ball cannon into space off my manly chest for another scrum to Aston. Now can you see why I want to retire!!!

Obviously with the recent controversies in the international game, with only seconds remaining and referee calling last play you can either hoof the ball backwards into touch or execute some daring slight of hand to win the game.....and we opt for the latter (though I would have settled for 22-0). The forwards secure good ball and Phil spins it out to Gary, and onto Simon who pops it back inside to Ralph coming off the wing on the inside and moving like an express train through the gain line, he draws the last defender and pops it to Coatsey who lights 'em up to score (our 80th try of the season) under the posts. Ralph converts.

Final score 29-0 Final age 635

Finally, some stats highest number of Vandals appearances and highest personal points tally is still Ralph with 16 and 98 points respectively, with Coatesy doing it the hard way in second with sixteen tries and 80 points, and he asks that we all start scoring wider out to make it a little more competitive.

Simon was our 59th player of the season with 13 players having now played ten or more times. This was our 13th competitive victory excluding Shannon's Vandals Actuals v Possibles and our Boxing Day lesson in mauling for the under 30's, with just the five losses two of which were by two or less points.

This coming saturday sees a break from league action. There are 3 home games, the first team play Harborne, the Devs host Claverdon 1st xv and the Vandals entertain Claverdon 2nds. All games kick off at 2.15 pm and admission is free.

Best wishes to the senior members on their mini-tour to Bristol under the leadership of Mr Stephen C Painter(Dip F D).

And finally, my prediction for this weekend's 6 nations matches. I predict wins for Wales, France and Scotland and in the round ball code, Arsenal to win again as they make their move on the road to winning the Premiership.

Not much going on, weakened first team lose again.

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 14:18:27 GMT

Well, what can we say? Even our excellent 1st team reporter is fed up and took a week out of the press box and having seen the boys struggle against a very ordinary Newcastle side I don't blame him. The one really excellent performance came from Ben Honey with his all round game containing powerful surges from the back-row as well as quality goalkicking. With half the team opting for Twickers I guess it was going to be a struggle, so boys, get it sorted as I honestly believe we are too good for the drop. Anyway, the trip was futile as not much could be seen of anything positive from the England boys.

Jumping ahead to sunday, the under 16s played at home to a very slick Old Covents outfit. Although we played well enough in spells we did lose our concentration which cost us the game. However, forwards coach Phil Cushing took us back in time to his days as a Selly Oak player. The memory of the Allotment Owners Club and that waft of dubious substances, arm wrestling with Pixie and drinking with 'stringer' was fascinating. Nice one Phil, don't give up!

The Quiz. What an epic battle. From the very first round on the bible, Josh, son-in-law to be of Dave Jenkins, came into his own (so to speak). The next round on the subject of beer was more to the liking of Alan Simpson. Steve Painter, surrouded by women, clearly lost his concentration and couldn't tell his Timmy Taylors from his Tetleys! The Goldournes clearly have clever partners and the same must apply to Tex Wales. It was good of Dave Jenkins to turn up and bring his extended family. Thanks also to Egg for his support and to Mike Hughes for running the bar. The sporting blockbuster needed a tie-break and the Goldbournes won the day. The main quiz also needed a tie-break. Steve's babes (is my missus really a babe?) were beaten in the extra time by the seniors aka Watts and Wales. Thanks to all, even Chicken's mob from Acocks Green. A tricky question (not), Name the river that runs through Sidmouth. (the clue is in the question) and it ain't the Tamar or the Ex.

This Saturday sees the First team visit Bloxwich in a 'must win' game. The Devs host Aston 3rds and the Vandals travel across town to take on Aston 4ths.
Well done to Steve Price's son, Jack, who represented Greater Birmingham last weekend.

Vets/Vandals shine under KN lights

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 11:59:36 GMT

The senior(old) boys had a floodlit friendly against Kings Norton Vets on wednesday evening. As part of our development policy we gave KN some of our rising stars and it turned out a good thing that we did. Well played Tom, Adam and Purdy boys. The OYs tries came from Billy Bucknall, Big Steve Cunningham and 2 from the elusive running of Lee Coates, steady Ralph adding a conversion.

This saturday sees the first team at home to Newcastle(staffs) in a rearranged league game which is to be refereed by the always excellent Mr Jones of the North Mids Society. The Development side travel the short distance to play Kings Norton 2s.

Don't forget the Quiz on Thursday 4th March at 7.30. You don't have to be clever you just have to be there!

Greetings to another friend of the club, John Heggie once of Keresley where he had the dubious pleasure of playing alongside Dave Adams. John has fond memories of the Old Ys and his wife, Lesley also sends us a message but it might be best to save it for later!

All O Ys games off today(Sat 20th)

Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:50:42 GMT

The weather wins again but the club will be open for mature conversation. Chat about the good old days, plot the future or just have a drink and await the outcome.

Don't forget the quiz on March 4th, even forwards can have a go although, to be honest, one would expect the backs to have that winning touch. You can bring friends, neighbours etc. if you wish as long as they are happy to part with their cash.

Next Saturday looks likely tto be a rearranged league match v Newcastle(Staffs) at home.

Yards 1sts dominate possession but not the scoreboard

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:55:16 GMT

Opposition: Veseyans (Away) Result: Veseyans 27 - OY's 12

13th Feb 2010

In this return match away to Veseyans at Streetly, the pattern of the game more or less matched that of the previous meeting between the two sides at Tilehouse Lane, when OY's dictated the set pieces, enjoying a majority of possession, whilst Veseyans showed a distinct edge in attacking threequarter play and support, both sides being well matched in loose play. In the event, the home sides attacking flair, taking advantage of positions gained from easy ball too often gifted to them by casual kicking from hand, was the difference between the two sides.

From kick off, with the OY's playing down the hill, Veseyans applied early pressure and spent most of the first twenty minutes or so in the OY's half. Despite this territory, OY's defence was sound, with the backs and the covering back row looking solid. OY's were winning most of the set piece possession, driving the home side off their scrum ball at regular intervals. However the OY's could not move the ball into the Veseyans half, and ball kicked away was usually carried straight back.

After 25 minutes, OY's were unlucky to lose one of their principal ball carriers; lock Phil Painter, to a neck injury, and the pack was reshuffled to accommodate P Butler in the front row. With the OY's scrum now even more formidable, advantage was taken on 40 minutes when the Veseyans, having conceded a scrum close to their own line, were rammed back on the put in and over their line. An attempt to kill the ball with a hand in the scrum gave the referee no option but to award a penalty try, and with Jamie Walton adding the conversion the half closed at 7 – 0 to the OY's. This was one of very few scoring chances in the half for the visitors, and it was unfortunate a few minutes earlier that a golden opportunity arising once again from solid scrummaging was missed when a scoring pass to Adam Walker in the clear on the blindside wing failed due to mistiming.

Turning round, up the slope, the restart saw the visitors immediately under pressure, and the type of move previously dealt with by the OY's defence was allowed to develop through poor first line tackling and give the home side an unconverted try after two minutes.

Veseyans now began all out attack with the ball, or without the ball to pressure the OY's possession to force errors, or kicks away from hand, which were collected and developed into further attacks. The OY's were again forced to defend, with B Honey, S Grainger, J Patrick and J Walton putting in some effective work. Spoiling tactics led to the game becoming scrappy, but inevitably, a second try, on the cards for some time, was scored after 12 minutes following a break through the centre to put the home side into the lead at 12 – 7

At 18 minutes, second row D Langley, who had played soundly throughout, gave way to A Purdey to inject additional pace into the back row, and to stifle the Veseyans backs.

On 22 minutes, and winning rare ball on their put in, a Veseyans No 8 pickup resulted in the OY's being penalised for killing the ball in the tackle and conceding a further three points.

The score moved on to 22 – 7 after 27 minutes, when again fed loose ball from wayward kicking under pressure, the Veseyans backs swept upfield and, aided by some weak tackling, a well taken try was scored by the right winger, again unconverted.

At the 30 minute mark, Jamie Walton was replaced at Stand off by S Richards, who seized his opportunity in an assured manner when some rare quick ball enabled him to get the back line going forward with some momentum. A break in the centre put Andy Pearce away with space and the ball was taken to and held on the Veseyans line. Great support recycled the ball to Ben Honey in midfield who made a further break in front of the posts before timing a perfect pass to put Guy Smith in for a well deserved try, scored wide out.

Encouraged, the OY's stayed on top for the next few minutes, but eight minutes later, Veyseyans again made good use of possession and round off the match with a sweeping threequarter move that resulted in their fourth try of the match, this time converted to bring the final score to 27 – 12 to the home side.

Although losing on the day by a well drilled, fit and skilfully organised side lying second in the league, OY's were to a large extent architects of their own downfall, allowing, at too many stages in the match, a constant supply of good possession from a dominant pack to be somewhat aimlessly kicked away with few chasing, and then failing to maintain a solid first line of defence in the face of the inevitable counter attack

Meanwhile, our Development xv took on the might of Kidderminster and gained a 29-12 victory. Tries were scored by Rob Willis x2, Lee Couples and man of the match, Mart Henshall. Steady Ralph kicked the rest of the points. Welcome to another new player, Ieuan Male, brother of skipper, Ellwyn. This could be a case of a double yolker! (Backs might work this out, forwards don't bother!).

News from the younger lads

The under 14s (Pricey's Boys) took on Nuneaton, apparently we were expected to be way out of our depth, but we certainly gave them a good workout, narrowly losing 22-12.

News from the previous week, Shannon informs me, that our under 16s who have been struggling for wins managed to beat The Exiles by a lot of points to nil! Well done lads and coaches.

Quiz night

Don't forget. Thursday 4th March, 7.30 - 9.30 teams of up to 6, £2 for adults, £1 for students. If its well supported we'll do them monthly or so.

A break from the league programme

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:04:01 GMT

With a league free weekend it was time to test ourselves against different opponents.

First Team Match Report

Opposition: Bromsgrove 2nds (Home) Result: OY's 16 – Bromsgrove 36

6th Feb 2010

With no league action this week, this rearranged friendly match saw the OY's entertain Bromsgrove second fifteen, a strong, well drilled and mobile outfit demonstrating the strength in depth of this club currently lying second in National Three Midlands. Despite this, the match was evenly fought and closer than the final score suggested, the difference being exaggerated by a ten minute period midway through the second half when, deserted by their normally solid defence in all areas, the OY's allowed the visitors to run riot, scoring three tries, racking up nineteen points and putting the match beyond reach.

From the kick off, Bromsgrove exploited their mobility and quick hands to put the home side under pressure and test a defence already showing vulnerability by slack first time tackling. After ten minutes, still under pressure OY's ran out of space and squandered possession with an aimless kick ahead. This allowed Bromsgrove a sweeping move upfield which resulted in a converted try under the posts.

Although the home side continued to waste valuable possession due to misdirected kicks from hand, the resultant constant attacks coming back caused the defence to improve and it was from aggressive tackling that a Bromsgrove midfield error was forced and the ball collected by Adam Walker, who kicked ahead, outpaced the opposition to gather and score an unconverted try wide out to bring the score after fifteen minutes to 5 -7 to the visitors.

Midway through the half, with the OY's back in the groove, centre D Rimmer left the field injured, and B Honey from the back row took over, the pack then shuffled to accommodate A Killarney as sub.

Now a much more even game developed, with the home side putting together some useful attacks, but unlucky to concede a penalty for straying offside in the centre, late on in the half, which finished OY's 5, Bromsgrove 10.

The restart saw the OY's soon on the attack through the forwards, with aggressive driving forward by P Painter and S Grainger, well supported by back row forward M Banyard. A penalty was forced, and the score was improved to 8 -10 to the visitors. This momentum, however, only lasted a further two minutes, when possession was lost to gift the ball to Bromsgrove who exploited weak tackling to confront fullback J Hendricks with a three man overlap, and inevitably a second try under the posts.

With the score at 8 – 17, OY's came back again, driving into the Bromsgrove 22. The visitors were penalised for a dangerous tackle on J Walton, and a further three points added to the home side's total.

At the fifteen minute stage, although the OY's were showing dominance in the scrum, competing well in the lineout and holding their own in the ruck and maul, possession gained was being wasted by misdirected kicking, allowing pressure to be reversed, and it was from such a wasteful kick that gave the well drilled Bromsgrove backs the ball and space for a further unconverted try, the score now 11 – 22.

The floodgates then opened and with the home side completely switching off, Bromsgrove took advantage by scoring two further tries, one being a penalty try due to an obstruction by the OY's centre, an action which did nothing to ease the pressure on the side, as the inevitable yellow card meant ten minutes in the bin, and fourteen men on the field. At 20 minutes into the second half, the score now having moved on to OY's 11, Bromsgrove 36, any chance of a win was out of sight. However the OY's got their act together again, and showing character and commitment, got back into the game, and began once again to pressurise the visitors with telling breaks through the forwards and B Honey making an outstanding contribution in the backs.

At 30 minutes, and now back to full strength, D Brain came on in the centre, and B Honey rejoined the back row. By now, the OY's were dominant, shunting the visitors back in the scrums, crossing the gain line regularly, and playing the game in the visitors' 22. Last ditch defence kept the OY's out, but frustration was apparent in the Bromsgrove ranks, and eventually a Bromsgrove player was yellow carded for over enthusiastic use of the boot.

Maintaining the pressure, S Grainger once again drove through the Bromsgrove defence to offload to A Walker to make further ground, and provide a perfectly timed flat pass to J Hendricks in support, who made no mistake with a well taken try in the corner, and the match finished with the score OY's 16, Bromsgrove 36.

Despite the scoreline, OY's to a man can take a lot of positives from this match, both in terms of character and determination, only letting themselves down by allowing the visitors three easy tries during a very slack ten minutes midway through the second half.

Next Match: 13th February 2010: Veseyans (Away) in the League

Meanwhile our Devs played against Lordswood Dixies who looked a bit like a university xv. We were well beaten by 38-5. Young Mark Baldwin scored our try but if you think about it if all of our players had scored a try we would have got 75 points so Mark, well done! Shame on the rest of you.

The Vandals were playing against our friends from Shirley Park and lost by 20-26.

Last Saturday took us to our nearest & dearest neighbours at Camp Hill for a local derby and our 16th competitive fixture against their 4ths; a side as it turned out made of an even split between olduns & younguns, with about six or seven replacements, compared to our one oldun in the form of Big Bill who was a surprise but welcome last minute arrival.

A new face in our front row in the form of hooker Martyn "Sonic" Poller my former third team skip at Sils, flanked either side by Billy "Babyface" Bucknall recently returned from a week's sabbatical, and Rick "Ankles" Lowe. The grunt in the engine room being supplied by the ever present John Lonie and the "Icon" Arkell, moving into the second row. This week's back row saw the welcome return after months of providing experience to the Ones of Marcus "the Hit Man" Hope, alongside Jacko continuing in his rehab, and Big Rog in steerage. So that's where all the Club hookers are, four in one pack!!

The attendants bossed & marshalled by the General & Nev, with the ex-Solihull midfield of Nick "the Barrel" Palmer & Phil "Horse" Watson", Captain Slow & Cedric Farrell on the wings, and ever dependable Ralphy at fullback.

Slow wins the toss and elected to choose ends by facing our Clubhouse, with our backs to their Bunker.

For once we take it to the opposition right from the kick-off in what turns out to be a bruising forward encounter with the usual Yards Camps niggle never far below the surface, with the ref having to step in a couple of times to separate the warring parties.

Unusually we're struggling to retain our own ball in the scrums with the ball squirting out the tunnel more often than not, with their solid front row giving us a fare share of problems.

Finally after about twenty minutes the deadlock is broken when we are awarded a penalty about twenty five metres out, which Ralph converts for a 3-0 lead. The lead doesn't last very long when a hopeful kick ahead from just inside our half by the Camp Hill fly half, results in an awkward bounce just outside our twenty two that is collected by the kicker who goes in under the our posts making the conversion inevitable to give them a rather fortuitous 7-3 lead.

Shortly after the attendants set off in pursuit of a great kick forward by Nev only to have him flattened by his opposite number with a hit so late it was probably Wednesday, unfortunately the referee doesn't see it, which doesn't help our mood. Nev soldiers on winded and nursing a set of very sore ribs. More minor scuffles continue to break out and eventually the referee has a word with both skippers, with "next one walks" being the message; unfortunately we duly oblige following a collapsed maul the Camps openside annoys Big Rog who responds with a very short right cross and off he goes for a rest until half time.

Our morale & confidence are hit, and next it's the Icon who is pulled away from one of the Camps players (Arks, the ref tells me he wanted to send you for a break too, but thought one was already enough!) Not long after a clearance kick unluckily goes right into the the hands of the Camp Hill wing who returns it to score 12-3. They convert 14-3.

Five minutes before half time we are given a scrum midway on our twenty two, Captain Slow thinks our beleaguered seven require an additional sixteen stones, great thinking we lose the ball and they score in the corner where I should have been...out on the wing!!! Conversion missed. 19-3.

Rick comes off and on comes Bill Burrows for the final few minutes of the first half, Sonic moves out to flanker and Jacko moves to his more accustomed position of hooker. And we respond with a good passage of play with a good forward drive which is stopped just short and somehow I'm lying on the floor just in time to see the Barrel's red & black socks hurtling over the top resulting in our first try mid way out. Ralph's conversion attempt goes just wide.

Halftime 19-8 and a bit of mountain to climb.

Rog back on but Nev's unable to continue, so Ralph moves to fly half and we have to borrow a young back rower from Camps, who moves to fullback and in fairness doesn't let us down, with some good running and defence.

Unfortunately Camps score again shortly after the restart and convert and we are possibly staring down the barrel of heavy defeat at 26-8. But we stop rising to the bait and start to play some good rugby keeping the ball close with lots of pops and drives which the Camps defence start to struggle with, even Slow gets a couple coming in off his wing...thanks Ralphy.

And following a robust couple of plays the ball is spun out to Horse keeps up his try scoring with a strong run breaking through the Camps defence to score our second try close to the posts 26-13, Ralph steps up to convert 26-15.

Now it is Camps who are on the back foot as the pressure is all Vandals, and from a quick tap penalty taken by John Lonie, Rog bulldozes over to bring us within a score at 26-20. Conversion unsuccessful.

But we run out of time and taste defeat for only the fifth time this season. Final score 26-20 Final age 632

FRIENDS OF THE CLUB!

It is a little complicated (no, it wasn't Peter's satnav) but I was watching the international on big screen tv in a South Wales pub (The Angel) when three welsh boys in conversation claimed that they had heard of the Old Ys. Thanks for your best wishes to Lyndon Pritchard (Caldicott and Lydney rfc), Eurig Griffiths (Cardigan rfc) and Roy Methley (Cardiff)

Old Yards General Knowledge Quiz

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:48:28 GMT

Come and show off your general knowledge at our Quiz, in the club, on Thursday 4th March.

7.30 prompt start with a 9.30 (approx) finish.

Maximum of 6 players per team, £2 per person or £1 if in full time education.

Prizes for winners

Proceeds shared between charity and club funds.

Obviously the bar will be open and car parking will be free.

Dave says that the questions will be easy but only if you know the answers.

Anybody found cheating by using mobile internet or any other similar technology will be disqualified and forced to watch our first team for the rest of the season!

A good day as all our teams win

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 13:13:56 GMT

A much better day for the club as our pitches are considered free enough of frost to be playable. The 1st team beat Telford with an extremely late try and con. to win 14-8 to get us 2 vital league points. The Devs beat the Edwardians 25-17 with Big Dai Langley scoring two tries. The Vandellas, with the usual style, beat Five Ways seconds by 41-5 mainly thanks to Nev (so he claims) and a big well done to Ivor the Engine for refereeing and I will try to bring you a stopwatch for the next occasion mate!

Even the newspapers study our club. Have a look back a while and find Pete hitting the headlines again.

(Shan) See this link http://www.birminghampost.net/birmingham-business/business-social/john-bright-business-columnist/2009/10/20/cool-put-down-from-rugger-s-ice-dance-champ-65233-24967975/

Yards secure last minute victory

First Team Match Report

Opposition: Telford Hornets (Home) Result: OY's 14 - Telford Hornets 8

30 January 2010

Following the below par performance last week at Tamworth, the side selected to take on Telford Hornets suggested better balance and more attack potential. This became apparent in the first few minutes of the first half when forward dominance, two good breaks in the centre and some aggressive running by left wing Andy Pearce resulted in the home side being camped on the visitors line. Although this pressure was maintained for the first quarter of an hour, Telford were not about to concede easily, and dogged, disciplined defence denied the OY's scoring opportunities whether through tries or penalties.

The game became scrappy with the OY's conceding too many free kicks through minor offences, and the visitors began to regain territory and took a 3 – 0 lead on 22 min following an offside at a scrum. This was followed on 27 minutes by a try for Telford which resulted from a poorly defended cross kick which gifted possession, and good support enabled their forwards to drive over the line. The conversion, wide out was missed to bring the score to OY's 0 – Telford 8.

The home side began to exploit their forward superiority in the set pieces and the loose and good breaks were made by the back row of Ben Honey, Steve Grainger and Rob Willis who exposed the spoiling tactics of the visitor's defence to the extent that they had a player yellow carded on 39 minutes for persistent ball killing.

At the restart, Richard Withey came on at prop for the industrious Aaron Foy, but the OY's were wasting good possession due to slack handling, kicking too much from hand, and generally poor support play. Frequent stoppages resulted, and the game became fractured. At 18 min into the half, Anthony Thompson joined the pack at second row in place of Steve Cunningham, and this additional power in the scrum paid off handsomely after 23 minutes when, following a scrum five yards out, Telford were driven back at a rate of knots and forced to collapse the scrum. Honey converted the resulting penalty try, to bring the score to 7 - 8 to the visitors.

Immediately after the kick off, a fine threequarter move took play again to the Telford line, only to see the attack fail due to a penalty award. Telford indiscipline caused this to be reversed by the referee, but instead of taking the scrum for a second pushover attempt, an opportunity was perceived and a quick penalty taken. This move came to nothing due to solid Telford defence, and the chance was wasted with no addition to the score.

The 40 minute mark passed, and three minutes into stoppage time, last gasp possession on the half way line enabled Grainger to make the all important break in broken play, then to feed Honey to take the ball on and commit what was left of the Telford defence before putting the supporting Jamie Walton clear for the winning try. Honey made no mistake with the conversion, to pull the match out of the fire with a final result of OY's 14 – Telford Hornets 8

Old Yardleians Development XV 25 - 17 Edwardians 2nds
This became the Dave Langley show as the big Welshman showed his versatility by slotting in at prop (take note Bobo). In what was a close game, two tries by Langley was the difference between the two sides. A great win for Captain Egg Male and his team. Good to see Troy Batters back and like all New Zealanders peaking well before a World Cup Year.

Vandals do it again

With Old Ed's Thirds unable to raise a side (nothing to do with the pre Christmas mauling obviously) Saturday saw us on the top pitch at Fortress Tilehouse playing a Pool fixture against Five Ways Old Edwardians when a lot of other local clubs had had their games frozen off.

With a backdrop of Eighties classics (largely unappreciated I hasten to add, though I know we all danced to 'em once) we got changed in what best could be described as parky conditions, with Cedric giving it large throughout and beginning to sound very much like Victor Meldrew.

Unfortunately with FWOE turning up with only a football team, and with only one recognised front row at that it was only thanks to Vandal Steve Painter, Pickle & Jon Bodsworth of the Development side and a surplus player from Eds Seconds that a competitive game was possible albeit with uncontested scrums.

With someone re-setting Shannon's kitchen cooker clock (long story) and Mark "Merve the Swerve" Baldwin having to referee the game (many thanks, though think sometimes you get a little too much pleasure out of pinging us, with Rog being sent back ten for use of racist language in using the word Taff) and uncontested scrums we opted for a lightweight & mobile front row of Jacko, Rick & Rog...yerrright with Jacko continuing his "rehabilitation" at tighthead.

A welcome back too after a lengthy spell off with injury following his brace in the pre-Christmas Tamworth game to the 6'-5" behemoth that is Phil "Horse" Watson on the wing, and also to Andy Killarney rejoining the tribe after a lengthy spell in the Ones; and a debut appearance for an old mate of mine Rupert "the Major" Young at No.8 formally of HMP Dartmoor alongside another former team mate Nick Levey and the Colt Arkell on the flanks.

Also with the Villa away to Fulham saw the considerable presence that is Nick "the Barrel" Palmer returning to the midfield alongside Chairman Fitz with Ralphy resuming his more usual role as last man standing. This week's creativity was again provided by Ian "Bambi" Neville (more later) & General Evans.

With Slow unable to contest a wing position with Horse I dropped to the bench and the side was AGAIN ABLY SKIPPERED (can anybody else see this Da Vinci like pattern) by John Lonie.

Five Ways elected to kick off, with the Vandals playing into the sun, not the best of starts as we fumble and first "scrum" goes to Five Ways who apply lots of early pressure as given their circumstances have little to lose by taking it to us.

Gradually we begin to get on top with one great break seeing Rupert break from the base to feeding his young flanker Arks in support who in turn pops to Andy K gaining nearly thirty metres in the process and it isn't long before the ball is spun quickly through the hands of the attendants to Horse now moving at speed just outside the ten metre line and even from that distance still proves unstoppable to go over in the corner together with a couple of despairing tacklers 5-0 Ralph's conversion attempt goes just wide of the left hand post.

Our next try is a real gem following great work by our breakaway forwards and our our backs cut loose and a great flea-flicker inside pass by Ralph goes to Cedric who juggles for a second (seemed like an eternity to be honest) and he sprints in and under the posts to increase our lead to 10-0 Easy conversion for Ralph 12-0

Our third try of the day is an almost carbon copy of the first with Horse again going over 17-0 Ralph converts 19-0

It is at this point that I go in search of that rarest of things....a match ball! Preferably one without a hole in it!

Walking away I see in the distance the man in the middle has given Five Ways a couple of penalties leaving them about ten metres out and from there they score their only try of the day, but miss the conversion 19-5, and Ways beginning to have a small purple patch....though in fairness about the size of a bruise!

By the time Slow ambles back Fitz's calf has gone, shot by a sniper in the long grass, so on I go taking up he winger's role with Horse moving into centre to partner the Barrel, a sort of large & larger. Shortly after our backs sweep left and Phil gets his hat trick and about five of their players this time to boot and we're back in control.

Half Time 24-5

Second half starts with more & more pressure from our forwards as we develop a stranglehold on the game, with more & more breaks from the General and then Nev who sets off on one mazy run stepping off both feet bouncing all over the place like a new born fawn, getting stopped agonisingly close.

So we are camped about ten metres out & the General elects to have Slow come in on the diagonal, a bit messy but Captain Slow makes a few yards and the resulting scrum goes to the Vandals. General opts again to go with his fat winger, coming out laterally and giving a nice flat pass to Slow who goes over/through a disappointed Pickle for the Skippers first try since the opening game of the season!! Conversion missed. 29-5

More forward pressure sees a good driving maul set up nice steady pill ten metres out for the General who passes to Ralph in the pocket (he says he was still there from the last breakdown) who flips inside to Roger the Dodger who bludgeons his way over mid way out, which Ralph converts 36-5

John & Steve Painter exchange shirts for the last fifteen (thanks to both)

According to Mike Neary watching on the touchline with the try line begging rather than score a fourth try Horse opted to let Cedric drop it instead, Mike said "I've never seen Horse pass before!"

Our final score of the day and probably our best began with lineout inside our own half and a great two handed take by Steve Painter the ball being spun quickly out wide to Horse who popped an inside pass to Ralph who goes over in the corner with an almost theatrical slow motion long arm stretch to score our seventh try of the day, he is unable to convert his own effort. This was a move the "attendants" had been wanting to try all afternoon apparently, and when called the ever laid back Cedric was heard to say "fine I'll watch".

Final Score 41-5 Final Age 662 And a jug off Phil.

Nice to see Mr Bastock formerly of Lode Heath School and Solihull rfc on the touchline as an interested spectator. Rob, go for it mate! Training is on tuesdays and who knows, the world could be your oyster (or something like that).

Tamworth same results as last time!

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:56:01 GMT

Tamworth again, defeats for 1sts and devs. more glory for Vandals.

First Team Match Report

Opposition: Tamworth (Away) Result Tamworth 20 – OY’s 3

With a side showing five changes from that selected, and missing the attacking dynamism of captain Steve Grainger sidelined through injury, OY’s were due for a stern test away from home against a young, fit and well organised Tamworth side currently lying second in Midlands Three West (North).

OY’s took some time to get into the game, and were soon on the back foot under pressure from the home side in both scrum and lineout, however it was not until twenty minutes into the first half that, following quick scrummage ball and an overlap in the centre, Tamworth crossed wide out for an unconverted try . Two minutes later, a similar move, assisted by some nonexistent tackling enabled the home side to produce a second unconverted try, and it was feared that the game would be over as a contest by half time.

However the OY’s came back, and, on the back of an improved defensive performance, began to gain territory. Following a series of drives, a penalty was awarded to the visitors wide out to be well converted by standoff J. Walton to complete the first half with a scoreline in favour of the home side of 10- 3

Following the restart, Tamworth built up pressure on the visitors, to the extent that it was not until after thirty minutes had elapsed that the OY’s got anywhere near the Tamworth 22. With the scrum and lineout under pressure, possession was slow and unpredictable, and the OY’s resorted to a kicking game in an attempt to force the home side into errors. This only had the effect of encouraging more attacking by the opposition, and it is to the great credit of the OY’s by now solid defence that no further tries or kickable penalties were conceded during this time.

Towards the end of the match, OY’s dropped their guard and the defensive midfield decided to get themselves involved in a minor scuffle that had broken out under the OY’s posts. Unfortunately the ball was still alive and in the possession of the Tamworth threequarters, who took advantage of the wide open spaces to score a try under the posts, duly converted.

It was left to the ref to Yellow card a couple of the protagonists and end a hard fought match that was generally played in the right spirit, with the 20 -3 victory deservedly going to the well organised Tamworth side

Next Match 30 January 2010 – Telford (Home)

The Development team had a tough match against Tamworth 2nds and with Yards suffering from several late withdrawals a defeat by 29-7 was not unexpected. Our only try came from Dave Simpson who is showing much of the potential that was evident before his transportation to Australia. A special mention must be made concerning Brian Collingwood. As the club has set the upper age limit at a desirable 23 years in the Development team it can be understood why Brian played like 3 men. Work it out lads and well done Brian who is eligible for the Steve Sidwell free pint for January.

Vandals save us from whitewash.

Well our fourteenth competitive game of the season took us over to Wiggington Park Tamworth, after an enforced Winter lay-off of six weeks, losing the fixtures for Harborne, Wolverhampton, Kidderminster (pity that) and most recently Birmingham Wyvern.

Our arrival on site was slightly hindered by the man on the A51 who tried & failed to secure his forklift down with a couple of bungee cords in one of the more unusual RTA’s you’ll see.

Still taking the field with a combined age of 662 years with the Colt Arkell starting at eight and Captain Slow dropping to the bench and a welcome return to action after 18 months and cosmetic surgery of the combative Richard “Jacko” Jacks starting on the flank. So the side this week was again led by Captain Lonie (he does a great job you know...).

With Tamworth winning the toss they opted to kick off. The first twenty minutes developed in to a war of attrition with ring rust playing a major part; for despite spending most of it in their half we failed to breach their resolute defence, ably marshalled by their scrum half & sixty year old fly half! (I make that another 14 years for you then Nev)

Gradually our heavyweight eight with our Home Nations front row of Shannon, Dai & William (no Sweaties obviously, you don't get 'em in the Lions either!) began to get on top, and with Big Phil finding his feet with his hands in the lineout we started to secure increasing amounts of good possession.

And finally the ball went up the jumper and our eight went on one of their customary drives starting twenty metres out bulldozing their way to the line, then just as they got to the line the ball went back one pair of hands too many and into those of our winger Coatesy!!! who gratefully accepted the big boys late Christmas present. 5-0 up steps Ralph and converts a nice easy one for a 7-0 lead.

Not long after, well secured ball from a lineout saw it go through the hands of the “attendants” missing out Ralphy I think at outside centre (former North Mids Colts centre I’ll have you know) to Coatesy who simply gassed his younger opposite number on the outside to score a more conventional second, giving him a nice hand off to remember him by too. Ralph steps up to slot another easy conversion. Their winger plays no further part going off shortly after.

Half Time 14-3

Shortly after the interval Roger the Dodger returns from bolstering the first team scrum and goes in at No.8 with the Colt Arkell galloping over to the first team to slot in on their flank, not sure if we gained or lost any poundage in the exchange mind with both unlikely ever to trouble a Weightwatchers subscription.

The first twenty of the second half followed a similar pattern to that of the first half with neither side gaining an upper hand until a neat passage of play by the attendants saw a miss pass from Fitzy going to Coatesy inside our own half who once again lit up the afterburners to ghost round his man and score mid way out for a 19-3 lead. The conversion by Ralph narrowly going wide.

Penalty to Tamworth twenty odd metres out, and they opt to take the points 19-6, and they’re sniffing an unlikely come back as we begin to slightly loose shape.....and breath!

Still breath enough though for Shannon to show that great increasingly trademark dummy of his again, and another great flowing set of hands by the attendants to release Cedric down the wing from just inside their half, think we need to set him off a little closer next time chaps.

Tamworth then put a great passage of three quarter play together themselves outflanking our cover defence to score close to the posts 19-11. Now controversy as both Slow & the linesman (who incidentally was the ref originally appointed for the game, who’d also arrived late only to find that he’d been usurped by Referee Dave) both put our flags up (ok mine was a Lucozade Sport bottle) to indicate a successful conversion 19-13.

One score in it then (or so a lot of us thought, me included) and game really on for the last fifteen, when actually the ref had adjudged the kick hadn’t bisected the uprights. Would have been nice to have known this and I wouldn’t have gone through another couple of nails.

Cedric’s hamstrings, shoulder (and morale) sore so Slow on for the last ten or so minutes, first duty a rather painful poorly executed tackle on their centre at full tilt which bloody hurt and still does! Second duty a summons from the referee to calm things down as he thought things were becoming a touch fractious, though their skipper and I didn’t see it that way.

The “missed” conversion could have proved even more important especially when after another flowing move saw Tamworth go in at the corner only to have it disallowed too, as the referee had adjudged the General’s fine cover tackle had put the Tamworth player into the corner flag before he’d grounded the ball cue much disquiet in the Tamworth ranks!! And so a 19-18 game with a touchline conversion to probably win it remained at 19-11.

The final scrum saw temptation prove too much for Jacko wanting once more to be hung between two big men, and with Mark “Merv the Swerve” Baldwin switching to No.8 we completely disrupted their put in with a great drive.

Lots of final Tamworth pressure was finally thwarted with the ball coming loose and out to Jacko Wilkinson showing what a great fly half he is with a lateral run and a hefty clearance to touch, game over.

Final score 19-11 Final age 672. Our tenth win of the season and no doubt the ref being removed from Tamworth’s Christmas list.

The last twenty minutes was a great display of backs to the wall belligerence in defence with Tamworth throwing the kitchen sink at us with a number of great tackles coming in from Nick, Fitzy & the General .

Finally, a few stats for those who collect them, top try scorer is Coatsey now out on his own with 12. Top points scorer and “most capped” player with 71 and 12 appearances respectively is Ralphy. Now here’s one that amazed me, despite a fairly stable hard core of old bastards we’ve still managed to give a staggering 55 players a run-out in the 14 games we’ve played. Can’t beat a good squad system I say. In those 14 games we have now scored 61 tries, not bad for a bunch mostly on the wrong side of forty.

This week’s Man of the Match is our hat trick scoring wannabe flanker Coatsey.

Next week at the moment is a home game against Edwardians.

Hopefully too I’ll have our Polo Shirts and that’ll be twenty notes on delivery please, I also take personal cheques or Euros but please don’t ask for credit...there’s a recession on you know!.

Mini/Juniors

Sunday morning at the Portway was the destination for the under 14s who, managed by Pricey and vocally advised by Chicken, Dave Adams, Rick, Kim and Arkell, took on the might of Birmingham Solihull. We are getting seriously better in each game. The skill and determination are clear to see but a touch of naivity or inexperience at the vital moment makes the difference between winning and losing. Big Dan Cushing, another Aquinas Academy player, made a big impact on debut at Number8 and the two Jacks (Price and Molloy) are consistently excellent. Our try was scored by Jordan but how we failed to score more often is still a concern.

Melted snow equals waterlogged pitches.

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 13:43:24 GMT

Home games at the Yards were not possible but the Devs. got to play at Wednesbury 2nds where defences were more successful than attacks on the day. It might be of interest to any of our trainspotting anoraks that Wednesbury claim to have the tallest rugby posts in thte country. Fascinating!

Ellwyn informs me that our boys gained an impressive win by 10 - 5 with walker junior being our points scorer with a try, conversion and penalty but no drop goal to complete the set! Man of the match was Stuart Adams (no relation to the former Y's star number 10) and a special mention to the only player in the team over 23 years of age, Steve 'baby face' Cunningham who provided the experience needed by our rising stars.

A number of our younger boys tell me that they really enjoy the stories about the good old days particularly concerning the apres-match events as narrated by Lonie, Sid, Smoking, Dave Jenkins etc. Yes, I agree that there were many epic happenings but I also suspect that the accuracy of these tales becomes reduced by the passage of time. In my memory it was not always so mind-blowing. Rugby protocol in my early Y's career meant gathering at The Plume in order to listen about the secrets of forward play as described by Bert, Blox, Poo Bear, Pugger, Big Al etc. The drink of the day was from a variety of cat wees including Mild, Brew and Best bitter. Drugs were compulsory and the choice you had was either Bert's snuff or Al's cigar fumes. What us younger lads really needed was wine, women and song. For that, however, we discovered that you had to travel north along the Stratford Road to the Robin Hood, where under the guidancee of Hilton things were very different. Could women ignore a man in tight red trousers, white shirt unbuttoned to the naval and an impressive gold-coloured ingot? Watch this space.

Marc Chetland (Camp Hill RFC)
We were saddened to hear recently of the death of Marc. We as a club offer our prayers and sympathy to Marc's familly and friends. May he rest in peace.

Double success as we beat the severe weather and we also beat Moseley Oak.

Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:22:11 GMT

The Old Yards beat the weather by playing their Midlands Division 3 west/north fixture on Moseley's all-weather pitch and then went on to beat their opponents, Moseley Oak, in a thrilling game that remained in the balance until the last kick of the match in the tenth minute of stoppage time. The hosts consist very much of talented and youthful players who are waiting for the call into Moseley's national league squad having graduated through colts and student rugby. Earlier in the season the Yards lost the home fixture and were looking for revenge as well as points to move them up the league table.

Old Yardleians made it clear from the start they intended to dominate the forward battle. The return of Peter Butler helped the visitors powerful eight drive back the Moseley Oak scrum at a rate of knots. The first half was initially dominated by the kickers with James McBoot kicking four penalties for Old Yardleians while Moseley's scrum half replied with two for the home side. Then came the move of the game when Old Yardleians outside half McBoot kicked an up and under landing just over the half way line. Chasing centre Dave Rimmer leapt highest and palmed the ball to exciting wing Adam Walker. Still forty-five metres out, Walker outsprinted three defenders to score the game's first try. McBoot added the conversion to make it 19 - 6 to the Yards at half time. The second half began with Moseley on the attack but the visitor's defence held strong. Some crunching tackles were made especially by scrum half Lee Purdey. Even when given an opportunity of a penalty in front of the posts Moseley ran the ball, a decision that would come back to haunt them later. Five minutes on Moseley were awarded and converted a penalty from half way. The game then flowed up and down the pitch with strong runs from Old Yardleian forwards Phil Painter, Steve Grainger, Rob Willis and Roger Lazenby, while Moseley's back line continued to threaten. With ten minutes to go smart thinking from a quick penalty saw the Moseley Oak number eight break through some poor tackles to score in the corner making it 14 - 19. Coach Gary Robinson sent on the rampaging Alan Arkell to give Old Yardleians renewed fight which was shown in the further domination of the rucks and mauls. Then in the fourth minute of injury time Moseley collected a loose ball, went wide and scored in the corner. An excellent touch line conversion gave them a 21-19 lead. Yards kicked off with the referee indicating that there was one minute left to play. Moseley secured the ball from the kick off but then their indiscipline saw them concede a penalty. Up stepped McBoot who, with the last kick of the game bisected the posts to give Old Yardleians a deserved 22 - 21 victory.

This coming saturday, weather permitting, sees 3 home games. The First xv play Newcastle in a league match, the Devs xv have a tough game against Bournville and the Vandals host Kidderminster.

We wish a happy new year to some of the friends of the club
Haydn Rees, John Houston, Paul Smyllie and Clare Jordan (rugby staff at the Academy)
John Madden (Bridgnorth rfc)
Adrian Butler (Old Salts)
Dave Dennis (Spartans rfc)
Matt Durber, Nick Mohammed (Moseley Oak rfc)
Steve Leahy (Old Halesonians)
Jan Ogan (Eds rfc)

Eddie Lahive

Sad news has recently reached us telling of the death of Eddie Lahive on Boxing Day following years of suffering from emphysema. Eddie was a true servant of the Greater Birmingham Rugby community as a player and later as an official. His funeral will be on friday 8th January at Our Lady of the Wayside in Shirley at !.00 pm with cremation at Robin Hood followed by a gathering at Edwardians RFC. May he rest in peace.

Festive times!

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 13:14:14 GMT

As suggested in my most recent report, the villa fans might well have a bleak midwinter against the Arsenal and so it turned out. A 3 goal masterclass with a touch of spanish quality. However, the return match is in late january so who knows?

Enough of the football how about the rugby?

Boxing day saw an in-house match between the club's over 30s and under 30s. The report, which is not really biased, is supplied by an anonymous front row player of considerable experience.

Old Yards Under 30s 7 - 12 Old Yards Over 30s

Led by Captain Steve Grainger, the Old Yardleians Over 30s gave the Under 30s a Christmas present they didn't want, with a lesson on how to play winning rugby. With a limited number of old men available the Over 30s had to play a few players out of position including Chairman Fitzy at fullback, Marcus "Shark" Hope on the wing and 1st XV loose head prop Bobo at number 8. The under 30s meanwhile had loads of players about two teams worth which included guys from Wyvern as they were determined to put the mature players in their place. The first half did belong to the younger guys. The held their own in the scrum and competed at the breakdown causing the oldies to kick a lot of possession away. They even had a game plan to take out the over 30s scrum half which worked and off he went to hospital. On came Martyn "Captain Slow" Cartwright at fullback while Fitz went to scrum half. A first half with too much kicking from both sides saw the only points of that half come from a kick. A high up and under bounced on the Over 30s twenty-two and the faster, younger guys got hold of the ball. It eventually fell into the hands of Dean "Facebook" Brain who scored under the posts. Rob Willis added the extra points. Halftime 7-0 to the kids. The second half started with the old guys putting down a marker. The first scrum was a put in for the Under 30s but a strong drive by the older guys meant one against the head. Lineouts were also getting difficult for the kids with Phil Painter getting the better of Greg Allen and Marcus Hope coming off the wing for lineouts to dominate the middle. With Coatsey and the Barrel firming up the midfield the under 30s lack of a game plan started to show as the little ball they did get, they made no use of. The Over 30s stopped kicking and kept the ball in hand. Drive after drive saw them camped in the Under 30s twenty-two for long periods. Eventually the defence cracked when Bob danced passed a number of defenders, bounced a couple of tacklers and scored in the corner. A great effort with the conversion by Dave "Ralph" Rollins saw the kick come back off the posts. The second half continued in the same manner with the fatter, older boys dominating with the ball in hand. In fact in the last twenty minutes it was obvious that the older players had the superior fitness. Again pressure told. The over 30s had a scrum five metres out. Steve "The Master" Mancel won another scrum and the older eight drove over the try line. Only quick thinking by Lee Purdy in grounding the bobbing ball stopped a certain try. This resulted in another scrum five. Again the over 30s drove the younger pack back over their own line where Bobo completed his brace with another try. Ralph added the conversion. With four minutes left and in the spirit off 70's rugby the over 30s kept the game alive. Steve Grainger, John Lonie and Andy Killarney carried the ball, ably support by the rest of the Over 30s pack and the drove forward yard after yard. Not to miss out the backs joined for what turned out to be a 15 man rolling maul led by the irrepressible Cedric know as the "Nightingales Roamer". The Under 30s backs did try to join the maul but were swatted away like flies. Eventually ref Tom Power had seen enough and blew the whistle on this Boxing Day encounter. Old Yards Over 30s 12, Under 30s 7.

Jack (Frost) is the only winner this week.

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 16:21:39 GMT

Heavy frost, sub-zero temperatures all day and a thin layer of snow combined to ensure that the only rugby available to our teams was that kicking ping-pong known sometimes as The Heineken cup version seen on the big screen in the 'Hillbilly Ranch' out in the wilds of Tilehouse Lane. Sunday morning matches were also cancelled.
Sunday afternoon/evening/night saw the seasonal visit by Santa. For those who did not know, Lapland is not far away, possibly in the vicinity of our 3rd team pitch. Well done to all those 'grown ups' who made the occasion a success.

All Old Yardleians, and also younger ones, are warmly invited to the club on Boxing Day from about lunch time onwards. Weather permitting the rugby will be an exhibition game featuring Over 30s giving a rugby lesson to the Under 30s. A little later on it is planned to play some indoor games. Possiblities include darts, pool, pass the parcel, arm wrestling, belly bouncing, bottle walking, dump the coins and tray bashing. If any of you young stars have never seen all of these fun activities you might be lucky enough to develop the skills needed for the spoons game and to even play a leading role in the unbelievable 3-man lift. Unfortunately the Health and Safety people have outlawed that thrilling game of 1v1 scrummaging against Rob Dixon.
It is quite likely that you will hear and join in some traditional (non-christmas) singing and our younger lads must make every effort to learn the words as post-match singing is part of the culture of this great game of ours and should be passed down from generation to generation.

Looking ahead, the next set of saturday matches are scheduled for 2nd January when the 1st team and the Vandals travel to play Wolverhampton and the Development xv play host to the same club. It is possible that our 1st team league game away at Moseley Oak that was called off due to the unplayable pitches might be re-arranged for that day but we arre still waiting to hear confirmation of this.
I wish you Villa fans good luck against the Arsenal but don't feel bad about the result as these things happen from time to time!

Finally, Best Wishes to all our readers for Christmas and the New Year.

We had to win and we did.

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 10:18:31 GMT

This was the match where only victory was good enough and the boys did the business and I see no reason why they shouldn't keep up the winning habit.

OLD YARDS 22 V HANDSWORTH 10 (MIDLANDS DIV 3 WEST/NORTH

Playing ay home against Handsworth, currently third from bottom in Midlands 3 West (North), and both sides desperate for points, this was a match that Old Yardleians were determined not to lose, and this attitude was reflected from kick off by solid forward pressure and ferocious tackling by the threequarters, with D Rimmer being particularly destructive. However Handsworth were not about to cave in that easily, and despite OY's achieving the better territorial advantage, and coming close to a try following a break by scrum half L.Purdey but the ball was held up on the line and so the visitors survived

.Midway through the first half, with lineouts and general forward play working well, and attacks through the threequarters showing good variation with captain and No 8 S Grainger joining the line to add physical presence in the centre, it seemed that a score was inevitable, but erratic finishing and dogged opposition defence kept the home side out until the 30^th minute, when quick ball from a set scrum on the Handsworth 22 was snapped up on the inside by winger A Pearce to score a well deserved unconverted try.

Handsworth came straight back, with their No 8 being particularly effective picking up and driving from the set scrum to gain good ground in the OY's half. On 38min, OY's were penalised on halfway, and gifted Handsworth a further 10 meters for dissent to turn a difficult kick at goal into a certainty, to bring the score to 5 -3. This fired up the OY's who were soon back in the Handsworth half. Good breaks by Purdey and Grainger were held up under the posts, but just before half time the visitors were penalised for killing the ball, J Walton converting the penalty to bring the score to 8 – 3 to the Ys.

Following the restart, further OY's pressure through the forwards, with both wing forwards, M Hope and M Banyard impressive in support ensured that the match was being played in the Handsworth half, but again, the side failed to convert the pressure into points. Handsworth began to get back into the game as the home side faltered, and after 25 minutes of what was now an even contest, the visitors took advantage of slack marking to go ahead with a well taken converted try to put themselves in front , 10 – 8

Although behind, OY's never really looked like losing and the Handsworth score served to jolt the side out of complacency, to the extent that four minutes later, aggressive defence in the centre by the impressive Rimmer forced an error which was capitalised on by Grainger as ever in support to commit the defence and release Hendricks who, with players still to beat, backed himself to outpace the opposition which he did to score a fine unconverted try to regain the lead.

This time OY's maintained their grip on the match, and further pressure in the Handsworth half resulted in three further penalties in quick succession, two of which were well converted by A Walker to round off a creditable all round performance, giving the OY's a deserved 22 -10 victory

Next Match 19^th December 2009: Moseley Oak :(Away)

Other senior results saw O.Y. development xv lose to Wyvern by 0-29 but the vandals defeated Bournville by 46-7 .

So 15 weeks into our campaign (only 18 scheduled fixtures to go before I hang my boots up) last Saturday saw us entertain the boys from Bournville in a lively but ultimately one-sided encounter at Fortress Tilehouse.

After an enforced week's holiday for some with the late cry off of Halesonians the side showed several changes to the fifteen that so convincingly despatched Ed's two weeks ago with the return of Dai Baldwin at hooker (having dropped himself from the Development side, and promoting Rick in his place assumingly by gunpoint or by threatening to show the photos). The Barrel returning to the centre (the Villa playing away obviously), Roger slotting back in at No.8 having had a short spell with the ones, Lee Coates coming in at scrum half (Callum having been abandoned at the roadside).

Mark now having given away our hooker meant Officer Burrows moving to tighthead and along with Shannon, dare I say our heaviest front row of the season was unleashed. In the second row the Lonester partnered the Colt Arkell (more bulk) and with Nick Levey having recovered from his breast augmentation work at Claverdon, joined Captain Slow and Roger the Dodger in the back row (possibly our heaviest pack full stop).

In the Attendants, Ian Neville continued in his role at fly half, with Fitzy & the Barrel forming the midfield, "Forrest" McDonald on the wing & Mike Neary returning to his more accustomed role as last man standing.

With the local society continuing to struggle to produce a referee for third team games we were lucky that Tom Power was on hand to fill the breach (albeit reluctantly and in borrowed boots) Thanks Tom.

My production of a current set of scoring stats earlier on in the week also meant a small element of try scoring rivalry between Coatesy (7) & Roger (6).

Having completed our warm up (cheers Shannon) which does appear to have benefits as we started, as we carried on full on and up front, with our heavyweight eight putting their counterparts under all manner of pressure in the set pieces, and it was from this pressure that the chocolate boys infringed and Slow decided to take the points with Nev bisecting the posts for a 3-0 lead . Now watching the game is one thing and playing in it is another from a point of historic accuracy especially in high scoring games, so bear with me as I have no idea in what order the tries were scored.

But the scoring went like this in the first half 3-0, 8-0, 13-0, 20-0 & 27-0. Tries by Roger (2), Coatesy & Shannon with Nev converting the final two tries.

Half time 27-0 and the venerable Steve Painter on and Arks off for a fag break!

Now I'm going to paraphrase Roger's hat trick in his own words and in any case they weren't pretty "three dedicated to the front five, total yardage 2, pick up fall over, pick up fall over, pick up fall over, brushed mud off"

Lee's brace were ignite afterburners, take off and score!

Couple of first half highlights for me were wannabe Attendant Shannon's outrageous dummy to Mike (who'd run all that way in support too) to go between the centre and winger and to dink it down one-handed, followed up by the Bournville second row's (think Martin normally props) full tilt charge right up the middle bursting tackle after tackle only to be felled in his boots again by Shannon, and think the quiet man gets this week's man of the match for these two and his sheer work rate in the scrums and tight.

Early on in the second half we allowed them a score after theirr Springbok second row set up one of their whippets on the wing to run half the length of the pitch to score under the posts. 27-7 But two more tries one each for Rog & Coatesy, both converted by Nev 41-7 put the game beyond doubt.

Second half highlight for me was Barrel's great run up the middle and if you have time on your hands look on Solihull's web site click on their Tetley's Twickenham appearance and you will see a great picture of a slightly younger Nick doing the same thing at HQ, locks flowing and all!!

Slow suffering from Man Flu comes off Arks comes back for the last on to score a wingers try in the corner, rupturing his Achilles tendon, tearing his hamstring, and snapping both cruciates in the process or that was his excuse for not putting it under the sticks, conversion missed. Slow back on for the last five.

Final score Lazenby 3 Coatesy 2 (please note the latter insisted he was playing through the pain barrier having stepped on a nail the previous day)

The final score 46-7

Harborne 2nds away this week chaps.

Both the under 14s and the under 16s were narrowly defeated. The 16s beaten 5-13 by Alcester and the 14s 10-20 by Edwardians. If you saw last week's reports I mentioned a new player in the 14s by the name of Tre'rail and my advice to give him the ball asap. Well guess what, the first pass he received, he went on an outside break, sprinted along the touch line from half way and scored in the corner. What a pity that the passes dried up. Welcome to the club to another player from the Academy perhaps one day you will be a first team try scorer just like former Academy product, Andrew Pearce.

Not the best of weekends for our teams

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 20:08:20 GMT

I was o.k. as the 'trouble and strife' decided that we should spend the weekend in London so I was not able to watch any of our teams taking the silver medal positions.
An independent observer informs me that our 1st team managed to control much of the game, take the lead through a Jamie Walton penalty and then slowly ran out of steam conceding late tries as fatigue crept in and that Burntwood playing at home were a little bit pleased to beat us by 20 points to 3. I think the expression 'deja vu' is how the french might describe our performance. On the other hand they might use other expressions. C'est la vie!
Our Development team, under 23s or whatever, played Claverdon 1st xv and were beaten by 10 points to 30. Sam Richards and Billy 'Boy' Bucknall scored our tries but sloppy defensive errors cost us the game.
The Vandals were due to play Old Halesonians in a home game. Strangely, when we went over to them earlier in the season they had a squad of about 25 players and ran us ragged but this time we had a decent sized squad ourselves only for them to cry the game off somewhat late in the week.
The under 16s played a strong Old Coventrians on Sunday and were beaten 27-0.
Moseley was the venue for our under 8 team who entertained the crowd in a tag tournament. The youngsters won 1, drew 1,and lost 2 in the 4 games played. The parents did well as Moseley rfc generously gave them free tickets to watch the first team championship game against the Cornish Pirates.
This weekend offers a rugby treat for all you spectators. Saturday sees 3 home games kick-off 2.15 pm (that means afternoon Pete and Ced!) 1st xv at home to Handsworth in a 'must win' league game, the Devs against Birmingham Wyvern 1sts and the Vandals against Bournville 3rds. Entry to the ground is free as a special Christmas treat but arrive in good time as car parking could be difficult.The 'park and walk' facility at Whitlocks End station could be a possibility and Clare, a teacher at 'The Academy', informs me that you could park in her road, Chamberlain Crescent, and walk to the club, a distance each way of only one mile. Clare, nice offer but we're not all as fit as you.
On Sunday, kick-off around the 11.00 mark sees our younger lads in action. Come and support them as the u.16s take on Alcester in a home game. The under 14s and also the under 8s will be visiting The Edwardians in Streetsbrook Road. The under 12s are visiting our close neighbours, Camp Hill, down at Shirley Park which means theoretically you could watch 4 different games and still not use more than a couple of pints of petrol.
Welcome to the club at under 14 level to Tre'rail, a sprinter at Birchfield Harriers so lads pass the ball to him asap.

Eds 3rds v Vandals - Belated Report

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 09:54:16 GMT

This Saturday eventually found us at Edwardians, with Salts & Pershore obviously having been checking out the website.

Whilst dry the conditions underfoot in places resembled Hackney Marshes, having been relegated to Eds' second pitch whilst the Eds & Camps youngsters in the main event battled it out in the bowl.

We took the field (eventually, our warm-ups taking all forms these days) with another large eight, with Christmas coming early with Santa Grainger allowing us the use of the Stig sorry Fridge straight from his fortnight in Florida following the promotion (again) of Dai Baldwin into the Under 23 side. Young Greg coming in at his favourite position at hooker and the Colt Arkell coming in at No.8 and with Nick still nursing his injured titty Captain Slow started at blindside. One positional change in the Attendants saw Ian Neville start at fly half with Gary TAG Williams moving into the centre to partner Chairman Fitz, and the return of Mike Nearly Neary on the wing.

Eds winning the toss elected to kick, good decision, with it not making the ten metre line giving us a scrum to start the ball rolling.

Our first try was a fine individual effort by Ian Neville following good clean ball from the General (having tweaked his hamstring in the process) with Nev giving the oncoming defence a show of the ball and allowing himself to ghost through and round the fullback 5-0. Conversion narrowly missed by Dave Rollins (the magic tee having been left at Claverdon along with Ed's trainers).

Our Second try resulted from a great break from the halfway line by second row Andy Killarney who hugging the touch line sprinted towards the corner flag, getting hauled down short he looked for the back row or a winger in support finding only his partner in crime the Lonester, the rest of us having given up ages ago and John bundled over for a 10-0 lead. Ralphy gets this one 12-0.

Our third try (beginning to sound repetitious) came from a penalty (yes we did get the odd one our way) when the General taking the ball convinced the ref that they were holding on/offside but probably both. Up steps John "Phil, this is the plan, I'll make a lot of noise and you give the ball to Arkell" Oddly enough this simple approach worked, the mere site of the Colt galloping towards the line was enough to make the defenders part like the Red Sea for Alan to score (with much acrimony amongst the defenders afterwards "look at the size of him I'm not intending to tackle him" you get the message. Try converted by Ralph 19-0 and well in control.

Number four involved a good catch and drive on the Eds twenty two finally being held up about ten metres out, then the General selected his strike runner go right with Greg or left in the form of big Bill Burrows moving at speed, the latter crashing through the despairing tackles to put us 24-0 up. Cue big spring in Bills step. Conversion missed.

Then Eds hatched a cunning plan from the restart, kick to the Attendants the ball ending up with Quartz, who proceeded to attempt to run the ball out from inside our twenty two but getting caught, and ultimately turned over for Ed's to score & convert 24-7. Now I believe Gaz had anticipated a supporting run from Ralph, which failed to materialise, anyway enough said.

Mind didn't take us long to score our fifth, with the General taking a quick penalty near the ten metre line he found Pete Butler in support who getting up to full steam ran a full thirty metres with defenders bouncing off and in some cases hanging on to score mid way out. 29-7.

Then Eds hatched (another) cunning plan from the restart, kick to the Attendants the ball ending up with Quartz (again), who proceeded to attempt to run the ball out from inside our twenty two .......f**k this deja vu or what!

We should have had a sixth when a great flowing move by the Attendants saw the final pass to Ed McDonald being harshly judged forward.

Anyway not a bad half's work 29-7

Second half no changes (ok we'd got none) and frustrations started to set in with one or two refereeing decisions not going our way. Time for Captain Slow to lead by example, having been upended & dumped I hasten to add without the ball trades handbags with Ed's James Brown (taught everything he knows by us apparently), cards brandished by the ref but not given. But Slow & Brown spend the rest of the half trading cheap shots.

Time for Chairman Fitz to step up and score a great try wide out left hand side, Fitz is this week's man of the match for some really agressive running especially in the second half (fired up by the ref's interpretive skills) and for being solid as always in defence. 34-7 Try converted by Ralph 36-7

Ed's bad luck continued when with the line begging he just breezed by Fridge and was pinged for accidental offside.

With one of Ed's props sustaining an ankle injury mid way through the second half, we went uncontested with Slow coming into hooker (as John suggested having the quicker players out in the back row!!!...think about it). Think I need longer arms or smaller props than Fridge & Shannon!

Finally another swift set of hands sees the ball though the backs to Ed who turns on the gas to score his first try for the Club in his new socks, just about braking in time before running out of deadball area, turning left and making the conversion easier for Ralph 43-7.

Then in similar fashion Ed deservedly gets a second with the Attendents screaming for him to ground the ball a tad earlier this time, run Forrest run!!! Final score 48-7

Another great result, next up Old Halesonians.

Slow.

Victory over Bloxwich brings 2 valuable points.

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 12:25:14 GMT

Old Yards 20 v Bloxwich 16 (midlands div. 3 north/west)

OY’s were up against a strong, physical Bloxwich side whose strengths lay in their pack and their intimidating style of play. OY’s conceded a penalty in the first minute on the half way line, well converted by the Bloxwich kicker to be immediately behind 3 – 0, but following the restart, good pressure on the Bloxwich threequarters enabled Dean Brain to capitalise on an error and outpace the opposition to score an unconverted try. This was virtually repeated after ten minutes, when again a Bloxwich threequarter movement was disrupted for Brain to collect a loose ball, commit the cover and put in Adam Walker for a second try, this time converted to bring the score to 12 – 3.
A second penalty to Bloxwich for not releasing made the score 12 – 6, and OY's possession was being restricted by the Bloxwich pack. The direct nature of the Bloxwich tactics began to work and the OY's pack began to lose focus and control, reacting to intimidation and allowing the game to become scrappy, reducing the amount of good ball for the backs. Despite this, the Yards backs showed some good touches, passing and kicking, with both wings being involved, mainly on inside breaks.

After five minutes of the restart, changes were made to the OY's front row with Roger Lazenby replacing Jack Horton, but the Bloxwich pressure continued up front, and it was not until twelve minutes into the half that the OY's regained some forward momentum with a powerful drive into the Bloxwich 22 which resulted in a yellow card for a Bloxwich forward for pulling down the maul. The penalty was converted for the Y's by Walker.

Two minutes later, from inside the OY's half, and near the touchline, Phil Painter made a fine blindside break form a maul to feed Lee Purdey, who showed a winger's pace and swerve to outpace the opposition cover to score an unconverted try. A scuffle developed on the line, and as the scorer got up, he was felled by a punch from an opposition player in full view of the referee, who decided that a yellow card was sufficient. It was a credit to the OY's captain and players on the pitch that their reaction to this was minimal.

Despite numerical superiority, OY's were unable to create any further scoring opportunities but did not look in any danger until slack marking let Bloxwich in for an unconverted try after 26 minutes. The visitors scored a late try in stoppage time but Yards held on for a valuable victory.

Next up on the fixture list is a trip to Burntwood for a league match this Saturday.

Development xv 'asalted'

The recent run of success came to an abrupt end with a heavy defeat against an experienced Old Saltleians. The only points coming from a Rhodes penalty. Missing a number of key players our young team lost by 3-34.

The old fellas rumble on.

Captain Very Slow has yet to finalise his post-match analysis. However, as the only touchjudge as well as the only spectator I am able to offer a brief summary. To begin with it was good for local rugby to see The Eds put out 3 teams as they have struggled to do so recently. Captain Very Slow spent most of the game playing handbags with the Eds number 8 (I wonder who taught James P.E. at the Grimshaw academy?) so didn't really see much of the game. The Vandals, i.e. Old Ys vets and leftovers, cruised to victory by 48-7. Tries were scored by Nev, Peter Fridge, DCI Burrows, Tony Fitz, John Lonie, Arkell and Ed McD x2. Ralph managed 4 conversions. Thanks to 'Sports' of the Eds for reffing and keeping the game interesting when it could have become a little more one -sided. Thanks also to the hosts for giving us a game at short notice after 2 other teams cried off late in the day. Don't forget Jan Ogan you owe me a pint!

A Blast from the past

Brendan Fahy, an Old Yardleian winger during the 1980s sends best wishes to all of his contemporaries. Well known as the second fastest sprinter in Cork City, work took him to Colchester where he showed them what real Yardleian rugby was about and as a result ended up in their thirds!

Even further back in time

Nigel Hough that former flame haired hooker is celebrating his 60th birthday this weekend. If you wish to join him he is aiming to consume some beers in Moseley, take a look at Moseley rfc v Cornish Pirates and probably attempt more beer after the game. How many doormen will Robin Sadler test the patience of? If you wish to join the celebration contact Steve Painter, Dave Jenkins or even Nigel Hough.

It rained and it rained and it rained!

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:56:03 GMT

This week belongs to the senior gents also known as the Vandals

This Saturday found us at Claverdon's Ossett's Hole Lane ground in probably the worst weather conditions we have faced this season with continual rain throughout the game and with more balls being dropped than bars of soap in a gay man's Turkish bath!
Still, arriving in force with a squad of twenty (all Vandals I hasten to add & no first team parolees), and resplendent in the nice first team stripey kit (to give it another win) we eventually took the park after waiting for the referee to turn up this week.
With this week's stand-in skipper Sir John of Lonie (with Captain Slow still aching from the week before) losing the toss the Lions 2nd XV (containing some of their first team squad as we're not the only ones to be turfed out of a cup competition) elected to play into the elements and up the slope on their particularly homely (read narrow) pitch.
Immediately we got into their faces with probably our heaviest set of forwards this season with the unholy trio of Dai, Rick & Shannon up front, Big Phil, Sir John in the engine room, Officer Burrows completing his backward transition through the rows of the scrum from front to back, our flyer (it's all relative) Nick Levey and Big Rog anchoring it all together at eight, all ably bossed by General Evans.
Going back to a more traditional approach given the conditions we went back to basics sending in the big units to set up phase after phase before unleashing our Turkish bath attendants on the Lions defences. To our credit our three-quarter line of Smokin' Fitz & the Barrel continually tried to breach their lines with good direct lines of running, despite the conditions and on the wings we had great pace (but obviously not out wide) in the rocket propelled Coatesy and Ed "clothesline" McDonald returning after sunny holidays and dog bites respectively (I kid you not).
After the best part of twenty minutes with the score still at 0-0, and with the Vandals hardly being out of the Lions' half, Captain Slow realised he'd forgotten the liquid refreshments, so he ambled back into the changing room to fetch them, only to return to find us walking back from their line having scored the game's first try...typical. But apparently we were awarded a free kick (could have been a penalty) which the General took quickly and broke for the line getting tackled five or ten metres from the line (tells me he laid it back in textbook fashion) where Roger following up like a good No.8 should picked up and crashed over. Up steps the ever reliable Ralph at fullback to slot the conversion 7-0 and looking good.
Not long after Ralph launches his howitzer from just inside our half, Coatesy lights up the afterburners in hot pursuit, the Claverdon winger obviously not familiar with that sort of pace dallies a little too long and gets caught by Lee who proceeds to play a little footy and scores close to the posts 12-0 Ralph converts 14-0 and looking even better.
Then a try for our pack who worked tirelessly against largely younger (hardly surprising) forwards all game, Claverdon were awarded a scrum five metres from their own line, we decided we wanted it a lot more and drove them off their ball and Roger picked up, wrapped his arms around the pill, went blind and scored 19-0. Conversion narrowly missed. But we're well in control. One downside our workaholic flanker Nick Levey tears a chest muscle just before half time in fact referee calls it while Nick is still down. On comes the ever versatile Andy Killarney at flanker, just to add a little more weight to the scrum, will try to get the tonnage at some point.
Second half kicks off with the Vandals marching up hill into the rain. Lots of Claverdon pressure in the early minutes but our hard tackling defence not giving an inch, and Chairman Fitz looking like he's been mud wrestling. Next high point (well his arm anyway) and Ed tries to decapitate an openent, the Germanic tribes would have loved this but the referee didn't, and we're lucky to get away with a stern word, penalty given but nothing results. Off for a rest goes Clothesline and on comes Ian Neville onto the wing
Our lineout now cunningly reduced to five after misfiring throughout the first half, now begins to dominate with Big Phil taking lots of clean ball, and it is from one of these on the Claverdon ten metre line that we take a peach, consolidate and begin a relentless march towards Rome. With the General giving directions and Coatesy adding the extra legs we maul like madmen up hill all the way to the Claverdon line at which point just to confound the defenders our forwards split into two pods and the General goes over unopposed for one of our best tries (if not the prettiest) all season. Now with the confusion the referee was minded not to give it but thanks to a VERY sporting gesture by the Claverdon (first half) skipper now touch judge he assures the ref that all is well and the try is given 24-0 cue lots of back-slapping. The gradient proves too much for Ralph.
Off comes John & Bill (who really does appear to be enjoying himself a little too much after three years away) and on comes Pickle & Painter Sr for the last fifteen (sorry guys). There are no more scores just belligerent defence as we have our second away shut-out of the season.

Thanks to Brian Collingwood & Bobo for coming to watch, nice to have a bit of support.

Next week contrary to earlier reports is Old Salts at Water Orton.

Belated U16s Match Reports from 1st and 8th November

Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Camp Hill vs Old Yardleians - Sunday 1st November 2009

We set off at 9:30am in appalling weather conditions to Camp Hill.
After a disappointing turn out of just 11 players Camp Hill generously lent us 4 of theirs.
The first half was tightly fought. We had players missing in key positions and the borrowed Camp Hill lads did not quite show the same enthusiasm as our 11 warriors. After 17 minutes Camp Hills number 24 broke through for their first try - no conversion. More trys were to follow for the home side, after 21 minutes their number 9 ran through our backs with no tackles going in. We must work harder on our tackles lads - this is a thorn in our side every time we have a match.
After 28 minutes the game spilled over with 2 of Camp Hills players being sent off and our Dave O’Grady having to go to hospital with a nasty looking gash to his lip which we later learned needed 4 stitches, the resulting penalty to us earnt us our first try with number 8 Daniel Cushing scoring a proper forwards try.
The other Camp Hill player was dismissed when Shaun Morris, jumping for the ball from the kick off, was illegally taken out with a dangerous tackle .
More trys by Camp Hill in the 37th and 44th minute but our players had showed real fight for the cause.
In the 54th minute our number 10 Shaun Morris scored the try of the match shrugging off several Camp Hills players and being half-tackled down to the ground twice he got back to his feet and went over for a great try. From that moment on Old Yardleians went from strength to strength with tackles flying in from the outstanding Conner Rigg, Scott Wilson, Shaun Morris and co.
The final score was Camp Hill 30, Old yardleians 12.

If only we could start with 15 of our own committed players.
Sorry the report is late. Phil Cushing.

Old Yardleians vs Lichfield - Sunday 8th November 2009

For the first time this season we had 16 players so we had the luxury of a substitute. The less I say about this game the better for all concerned. We have worked tirelessly on set pieces in training but anybody watching this game would have thought our boys had never played together before with Old Yardleians never threatening throughout the match to get into the Lichfield half, let alone score.

Final score Old Yardleians 0 Lichfield 32. Phil Cushing - cheesed off forwards coach :o)

What can I do on a sunday?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:21:52 GMT

It would do you good to struggle up to the club on a sunday morning at around 10.30. The fresh air clears the head, refreshments, served by charming volunteers are available and you might find somewhere to park the car (if you are lucky). I realise that some of you are there because your kids are playing but it is good to see more and more of you coming along to support the young lads who will, one day, be the players that keep our club thriving. Now let's get serious. Watching the games is good but you can do more than that. You can still have your pint and your butty but how about making a real contribution. How about some volunteers. We could do with kitchen staff, general clubhouse tidy uppers, car parking stewards and odd-jobbers who could do basic jobs such as being responsible for water bottles, post protectors and touchline flags. Such tasks would suit parents or players without the confidence to become involved in rugby-specific matters. You could be linked to a particular team/age group so that you were only involved at home games. Please approach your child's team manager or Shannon Killarney if you feel that you could help in some way.
Now, what about you players. You should hopefully know more about rugby than the young lads. Why not assist the current team managers with coaching and if you feel that you could do a job then you could sign up for a coaching qualification at a later stage. Referees don't need to know every law in the book. All they have to do is to appear confident and allow your common sense to take over. The refereeing qualification is easy to get and then 25 mins each way will not be too much for you. Most spectators show respect and those that allow mouths to operate without brain function are few and far between.
What else can you offer? Fixture secretary, can you read and use a phone, possibly at the same time? then you could do the job!

Please give it some serious thought and contact Shannon if you could offer your support in any way.