Stroud beat local rivals Painswick in an enjoyable morning of rugby

First of all we must start this match report with a serious complaint raised against the match reporter. Not sure if we have to go through club disciplinary process first of all, or if we have to jump straight to RFU Conduct process and the risk of people having to miss the next 6 weeks of the season….

Anyway a certain Master Dave Samak was heard complaining earlier today that because the match reporter was going to the local pub to watch England play and drink beer with his dad that wasn’t he instead supposed to do the Painswick match report before actually doing anything enjoyable himself? On reflection I now see where Dave is coming from and I wish I had done the match report earlier instead of watching Englands attempt at playing rugby. Stroud U11’s could have done better in many aspects…..

This is the same Master Samak that perhaps has a vendetta to settle because he also complained that when we drove down to see Stroud First XV play a few weeks ago that why was Russell staying to watch the game and wouldn’t he just be the taxi driver and drive down later to collect him when final whistle blew! Dave is just bitter that I beat him in an arm wrestle a few months ago to see who wins eating my chicken curry tea. To be honest I don’t think I’ll win many arm wrestles in the future so I should quit while I am ahead…..

So now official business is over lets get onto the enjoyable part which is the match write-up.

Warm-ups started with a slight difference. Callum (still recovering from illness) called out the exercise sequence and somehow the quantity of exercises was greatly diminished as he seemed to be siding with his team mates requests to be lenient and not his dad the drill instructor barking out the commands. As we got into contact and ball drills the lack of comprehensive warm-ups showed with scrum half Tom going off with a calf strain. Perhaps a 1 hour warm-up routine next week kids before the Tetbury game??

Throughout the games Painswick were short of players so we leant them 3 of ours that rotated around to give everyone an opportunity to play Home and Away. It was certainly strange seeing Blue on Blue but everyone was fully committed while playing for Painswick as you’ll see from the report.

There was great Stroud support from parents, siblings, and grandparents to cheer the players along. Even injured or ill players like Arthur and Callum were there to lend their vocal support. See you on the pitch soon. We need you both back ASAP.

Game 1

Stroud kicked off and the pre-game kicking drills paid off handsomely with Liam catching the ball cleanly and putting Stroud on the attack straight away. You should have seen the smile on Coach Jo’s face to see the tuition paying dividends. Painswick defended well and managed to turn over the ball. Their player weaved down the right flank and kept avoiding poor Stroud tackles and managed to somehow score in the corner. A great piece of individual play to give Painswick a 1-0 lead.

In the next phase of play Stroud won a scrum and the ball got passed through the backs and out to Dave. A great cover tackle from Painswick stopped him on the line and the ball was knocked forward stopping a scoring opportunity. Painswick were having to defend deep and they resorted to a long kick. Finn caught it cleanly at pace and ran off down the left wing. He offloaded it to debutant Sam who scored his first try for Stroud in the corner. Scores level at 1-1.

Just as we were catching our breath an even more mesmorising event happened. Painswick kicked off deep and Dave caught the ball and somehow managed to evade a number of tackles and run it back the length of the pitch down the right wing to make it 2-1 to Stroud. (Dave will you now drop your complaint now I give you a positive write-up?) (Editors note - I am impartial and my influence can't be brought - unless its a pint of lager in the clubhouse).

Painswick didn’t let their heads drop and kept attacking. Keyan and Will T were putting in some great tackles to stop their big guys from building up a head of steam. Much easier to tackle someone when they start running instead of them at top speed down the wing. Painswick were still putting pressure on the Stroud line but resolute defending kept them out. Will H managed to rip the ball (again another pre-game drill that paid dividends) and Stroud full of confidence ran the ball out from their own try line. Archie C (aka Flash) passed it to Dave. Dave passed to Alex. Dave then looped around the back and got the return pass and galloped upto halfway. Painswick covered well and play slowed down but Stroud managed to keep the ball alive and attacked over to the left flank with Laurie making good progress. As the ball slowed up on the left flank it suddenly came out back to the right through a number of Stroud hands and Dave scored his 2nd try of the half. 3-1 to Stroud.

The Stroud forwards were now really enjoying themselves with good rucking and clearing out. They were also doing a great job with running with the ball with Keyan again going on a long run. There were rumours of a £1 a try bounty being paid out from Jon so that probably helped focus his mind! As the half wound down Painswick attacked again but a good tackle from Alex stopped that move and god covering support from Stoner and Tom O slowed up the ball enough. Half time whistle went with Stroud leading 3-1.

The 2nd half started with a scrum due to a short Painswick kick-off. Straight from the scrum Keyan went on a long marauding run to the left corner and was stopped on the line. An alert Dave who had been trailing in support picked up the ball to score his hat-trick try and make it 4-1 to Stroud.

Stroud still couldn’t relax though because Painswick kept attacking. Another good attack was foiled by a Will H strip tackle. In this case he then turned defence into attack with a great kick over the top but unfortunately a foot on the line pulled it back for a Painswick lineout. Not to be denied Will T won the lineout and Stroud attacked again. Dash got the ball and kicked long and it just went out the back of the try area. Painswick were under more pressure and they kicked long but Finn caught it again and ran it back. James and Edgar were helping out in the backs and kept the ball alive. A good Painswick tackle resulted in a turnover and just as we thought Painswick would run back a long try Keyan supported by Jed put in a good tackle. A penalty was awarded to Stroud and Will H kicked long into the corner.Stroud won the lineout but couldn’t punch it over the line. Painswick turned the ball over and kicked long again. The ball was recovered by Stroud but a Painswick player was injured so full time whistle went and Delia ran on to administer A&E care. Luckily he wasn't badly hurt and carried on to play in the 2nd game.

Final score Painswick 1 – 4 Stroud

Special mention to debutant Sam that as well as scoring a try within his first 5 mins on pitch he was contributing in all phases of the game and putting in great tackles as well.

2nd Game

If the first game was to be remembered as won by tries from the backs then the 2nd game was going to be revenge from the forwards and them showing how much they could contribute to a great team performance.

The second game started with more good back attacking play by Stroud. Archie E did well with making progress up the middle. Sam had some good runs up the wing. Finn (playing for Painswick) had a great attacking run down the left wing. Luckily Alex playing Finns full back position managed to position himself correctly to put himself in position to make a great tackle. Painswick kept attacking though and managed to get the ball down to the Stroud line. Good defence though by Stoner and Tom O kept them out. The ball came back to midfield and the 3 Stroudies playing for Painswick suddenly took over the game. Finn had a good run. Laurie supporting well cleared out the defenders leaving Keyan to pick up the ball and score in the left corner to give Painswick a 1-0 lead. The look on Jon’s face was a picture. Not sure if it was the thought of his son scoring for rivals Painswick against his beloved Stroud, or the possibility that that try wasn’t a £1 bribe but was going to cost him £10 instead as a penalty cost.

Liam was determined to not be outdone by Keyan so he went on his own marauding run up the left wing. Only a desperate push out tackle stopped him scoring. A progression of lineouts and scrums resulted in Stroud winning a scrum against the head and Flash picked up the ball, sniped around the left and scored in the centre to make it 1-1.

Stroud were looking to push on and Will T had a good long run. Painswick turned the ball over and ran it back but another strip tackle by Will H denied Painswick.

Another phase of forward dominated play then ensued. An observant coach Mark even spotted the comedy that was a scrum with both scrum-half’s lined up with their backs to us. Archie standing on the left and Painswick scrumhalf Curtis standing to the right. Both of them had shirt names printed on the shoulders. What did it spell ? Answers on a postcard to Stroud RFC, Fromehall, Stroud.

Painswick were still giving it 100% and kept attacking and were rewarded with a good phase of play with constant attacks and good Stroud tackles, but constant Painswick recycling meant they managed to score in the right corner for a 2-1 lead. Half time whistle then blew. A rousing team talk from Jo was going to be needed to try and win the 2nd half – plus a sub of Keyan coming back to play for Stroud in 2nd half.

In the 2nd half Alex had a good run up the left wing. Tom O and Jed won the ruck and Keyan picked up the ball and ran down to the left corner to score the 2nd try. As we celebrated we realised he had dropped it so no try awarded. At this rate Jon would be getting a club fine for perhaps bribing his son to score for Painswick and not Stroud! Jon was wearing a Painswick themed red and white England shirt with not a hint of Stroud blue on it.

Painswick were camped on their own try line and resorted to a long kick to clear their lines. Will H caught it and ran it back. The ball went out to Liam on the left and he managed to stay in bounds and get to the try line. Just as we thought he’d been held up by tacklers he managed to wriggle free (another pre-game drill paying off) and touch down to make it 2-2.

Strouds scrum was working really well with good shoves from Will T and Jed. The Painswick scrum half was very quick though and was often spoiling the won ball. Flash was doing well to get the ball out to the backs, often with dive passes. Alex had a good run down the left wing. The ball was offloaded and Liam carried on up the middle. The James got the ball and carried on up the left wing and his reward was to be thrown out of bounds by the big Painswick tackler!

Stroud won the lineout again against the head. Another great attacking phase through Flash, Will H, and Archie E ended up with Dave somehow running down the right wing and scoring in the corner to give Stroud a deserved 3-2 lead.

Painswick were determined to get back into the game and attacked deep into the Stroud half. Determined Stroud tackling on the line kept them out. First of all it was Stoner and Liam that denied them. Then it was Finn and Edgar holding up the attacker. The ball came loose and Alex in his own try zone was running left and just as he was about to be tackled he managed to kick the ball left footed to safety.

Stroud managed to keep making yardage and got themselves down to the Painswick 22. A scrum was awarded and Stroud won it and Keyan picked up the ball and was free to score up the centre but somehow managed to drop the ball in a try scoring position – another club fine for Jon ? He can pay for all the beers at Weymouth Festival !

Painswick launched a last gasp attempt for an equalising try and good tackling by Finn and Edgar stopped Painswick. Keyan who had covered every blade of grass on the pitch then picked up the ball and attacked again. A good defensive tackle stopped this move and the full time whistle went.

Final Score Painswick 2 – 3 Stroud

Final Score over both games: Painswick 3 – 7 Stroud

In keeping with the great spirit the game was played in the players congratulated each other and formed tunnels to clap each other off the pitch. Many thanks to the ref who did a good job refereeing the game and helped explain his decisions to the kids. Even giving us the benefit of a straight kick out of bounds from outside our 22 (or was it 10 yard line due to scale of pitch?)

The kids huddled together for post match debrief from Jo. Everyone agreed these were the best games of ‘complete’ rugby Stroud had played this season. Forwards and Backs all doing their jobs very well and tackling as a team. Special mentions were given to Sam and Edgar for their performances. Man of the Match award was easy. Keyan was the unanimous choice, even if his only score was for Painswick! Well done Keyan, great all round performance. Now please try and score for Stroud next week ;-)

Everyone then retired to the bar to drink beer, swap stories and load up on hotdogs.....

Just a closing word that coach Jo had a rugby article about kids rugby and the offside rule on the main BBC web site this week. Link to article at http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/31641675

He gets more words than Matt Dawson, Jonathan Davies and other rugby experts. Perhaps if Stroud RFC is in the national spotlight if I keep up my editorial neutrality and journalistic prowess I might get a job as touchline reporter for BT Sport. If not the Aviva Premiership then the next big rugby 7’s festival. Stroud Under 7’s at Weymouth knowing my luck !

Next week Tetbury away – Health and Safety officials and hard ground permitting……..