Stroud lose their way in the fog

Stroud were playing away from home again, but this case it was only a 3 mile trek up the road to Berryfields to their 2nd home ground. Luckily the GPS’s in the cars were unaffected by the pea soup fog that awaited everyone and a full squad of 20 – minus injured players Liam and Will – were available for selection. Phil was going to have a hard job running the subs today !

The warm up session didn't get off to a good start for the 'fitness' coaches Russell and Jenks. One was suffering from a Saturday night curry and an excessive business lunch from Friday, and the other one was suffering from a lack of rugby boots and ability to stand up on the slippy surface! British Bulldogs was therefore a leisurely warm up for the kids until some of the youngsters got tagged and made the rest of the team work harder to run from end-to-end.

After an intense training session on Friday night and a pre-game recap of the key skills of passing and tackling the boys were ready to take on Old Richians who had travelled down from Gloucester with a squad of 11. Coach Chris gave them a quick training session on scrum technique and then the games started with Stroud players taking it in turns to play the 12th player for Old Richians – now to be known as ORich.

Game 1

Alex was the first player to volunteer to be the 12th man for ORich. The game started with ORich having a good attack from the kickoff. Good Stroud tackling by Will and Arthur just delayed the ORich attacks. ORich kept making yardage and they managed to get over the try line but frantic last ditch tackling by Finn managed to hold them up so no try could be awarded. From the resultant scrum (uncontested for the first half) ORich won the ball and passed it through the backs to be able to score in the left corner to make it 1-0.

In the next phase of play it was tit-for-tat with each team attacking and defending in equal measure. Edgar did well to halt an attack with his Friday inspired tackling practice. Stoner, Callum and Tom O were having a good game in the forwards. Stroud were awarded a penalty for ORich handoffs and it was time to roll out the new penalty moves. Would it be a fruit or veg call to get the correct play? Tom H at scrum half did a good pass to Tom O. As planned he was able to flip it onto Stoner and with Keenan, Callum and Will providing good support they barrelled forward to make some good gains. ORich were upto the job though and managed to thwart this attack and actually turn the ball over and run it back into the Stroud half. Another handoff though brought this phase of a play to a halt. Penalty to Stroud.

Dave playing at number 10 again had a great long kick to touch. Better still was the skill exhibited by Rick in catching the ball cleanly. Before he was able to wind back the years and run the ball back he realised he was a 41 year old parent with dodgy knees and no studs, so he called for a mark instead and gave the ball to Tom O for the lineout! If next week we see parents Rick and Geoff wearing ill fitting Stroud shirts and retro Adidas boots from the 1980’s we know they are trying to relive their youth directly, and not via their kids !

ORich won the resulting lineout and only a good tackle by Dave stopped them breaking through our defensive line. Stroud’s tackling was starting to suffer a bit with a number of ‘turnstile’ tackles allowing ORich to make more ground than they should have. Only a good tackle by Dave on the left at the 5 yard line stopped another try.

Stroud won the line out but under pressure from ORich they kicked long. The ball bounced around and Alex playing for ORich picked it up at pace and had a good attacking run. Alex was having a good half for ORich with well timed tackles, supporting the breakdown and clearing out (and having a chat with Finn while he did it!).

Just as Stroud seemed to be getting back into the game with some good attacking by George an opportunist ORich player picked up the ball from a tackle and managed to squeeze through some desperate tackles to make it 2-0. It got worse with another turnover from a lineout and the big ORich player who had a dominant 1st half managed to run all the way down the left wing and score a third try at the end of the half. Stroud 0 - 3 ORich at the half.

2nd half was time for the real Stroud to come out and start playing. George volunteered for fluorescent shirt duty for ORich to let Alex return to the blue and white of Stroud. Dave went off with an injury and Archie C (aka ‘Flash’) volunteered for kicking duty.

2nd half carried on with a number of penalties against ORich with persistent handoffs. Scrums were now contested and ORich did well to apply pressure on the Stroud scrum. As the game settled down Stroud started to show more aggressiveness up front and Laurie and Jedd were doing well with supporting the rucks and mauls and giving the ball to the backs. A great move in the middle by both Archie’s, Alex, Finn and Lewis showed how quick the backs could move the ball if they had the opportunity. Keenan had a great run and was rewarded with a try to close it up to 3-1.

Now Stroud’s confidence was growing and they kept up the good attacking play. The ball came out to Lewis (aka Dash) and he ran down the left wing and it was only a good tackle by George that stopped another score. Stroud weren’t to be denied though and another good attack from a scrum gave Ryan enough space for him to squeeze into the corner to make it a close game at 3-2.

To their credit ORich didn’t lie down. They came back strong and camped themselves on the Stroud line. Good tackling by Arthur and Keenan kept Stroud in the game but the talismanic ORich big guy wasn’t to be denied and picked up the ball from another breakdown and scored making it 4-2.

Stroud didn’t let their heads drop and with the subs rotating on with fresh legs we were able to sustain good attacks by James, Ryan and Luke, and also good forward play from Stoner, Tom O and Laurie. Arthur had a good attack through the centre and it was only a high tackle that stopped him in his tracks. ‘Dash’ took over the attacking threat and another weaving run (all credit to Jonny May for the inspiration) down the wing was only stopped by another good tackle by George. What is it with these Stroud players in ORich outfits denying Stroud’s own players from scoring !

Inspired by Arthur Stroud were able to bring down the big guy and a turnover in the tackle gave Archie E the chance to have a good run down the left wing. The ball came back out through the backs and Luke crashed through the centre. He managed to get through a high tackle and score a well earned try. 4-3 to ORich.

There was time for only one more phase of play and good runs by James and Jedd came to nothing and the full time whistle was blown.

Final Score: Stroud 3 – 4 Old Richians

Game 2

Still foggy but this was a chance for Stroud to do a Hucclecote and come back stronger in the 2nd game. Luke was the volunteer to play for ORich. With time running out a shorter 2nd game would give Stroud a chance to try and even the scores.

ORich carried on where they left off with giving the ball to their big guy and him making plenty of positive yardage. Arthur wasn’t to be intimidated and kept tackling him. Stroud were under pressure and on their own 5 yard line they lost a scrum and ORich picked up the ball and scored to make it 1-0.

Stroud kept attacking and made some good moves through the backs. Tom H was playing well at scrum half and giving good ball to Dave who then varied the attacks left and right to keep ORich guessing.

With ORich on their back foot a rampaging run by Keenan got the ball close to the line and just as we thought the chance had gone he managed to offload to Archie E who scored Strouds first try to make it 1-1. After a few more attacks and good defending by both sides the 1st half came to an end with the scores level. Could Stroud win the 2nd half?

2nd half started with a big tackle on Lewis who went off injured. The 2nd half was a continuation of the 1st half with neither team able to dominate. ORich had a good attack down the wing and good team tackling managed to force the player out. At the resultant lineout ORich did a great job of anticipating the throw and intercepted it and scored to give ORich a 2-1 lead.

Their big guy was having a storming 2nd game but Will was able to bring him down a few times to keep Stroud in with a chance of nicking an equalising try. The boys didn’t give up and good forward and back play went unrewarded due to good ORich tackling and stealing the ball at the breakdown.

In an unfortunate passage of play one of their players went down injured with a knee/ankle injury. After a few minutes medical attention it was decided to finish the game. The kids lined up and shock hands and the injured player was man enough to hobble through the tunnel of Stroud players before then getting carried off. Here’s hoping he wasn’t too badly hurt. I’m sure a hotdog at the end was as good as the magic sponge.

Final Score: Stroud 1 – 2 Old Richians

At the post game debrief Man of the Match award was given to Archie E for his good all round play and his try. Well done Archie !

Special thanks go to Bill and Delia for providing the catering in their camper van. Their cups of coffee were suspiciously similar in maroon cup colour and taste to another Italian brand of coffee available about 1 mile away at the Services. Had they intercepted their early morning catering delivery and sold it on at substantial discount to the rugby parents? It Costa lot at the Services, but didn’t Costa lot at Berryfields!

Well played kids. Lets win next week.....hopefully we won't need to lend any players to our opponents that then stop us scoring tries !

Hopefully Liam and Will are recovered from their injuries to add something extra to the Stroud team.