Sat 14 Sep 2019, 15:00
Any dreams Redditch may have had of an easy return to level 9 were shattered with this reality check at Chaddesley. The home side had recruited well over the summer and used them to good effect, nothing fancy, just hard straight running which Redditch struggled to cope with.
Redditch started brightly. Craig Martin and Matt Allen taking the ball to the opposition, aided and abetted by Tom Saddington and Stuart Brooks in the backs. However the Chaddesley attacking was more fruitful, their dynamic no 8 broke through tackles before slipping the final pass for the opening try which was converted.
The Kingfishers hit back in style, as Tom Saddigton produced one of his trade mark shimmies to slip through the home side defensive line and dart to the posts. Though hauled down short of the line he was able to offload to the ever present Matt Allen who scored. Old frailties raised their heads once more, too often the ball was lost in contact and poor decisions gave the ball away to an opposition who were hungry to attack at any opportunity. All these errors combined in the lead up to Chaddesley's second try, a dropped ball was pounced upon, spun down the line and all of a sudden a promising opportunity had become a try against them, again converted.
James Mills was instrumental in providing the next scoring opportunity, a series of penalties found Redditch sniffing the try line, James Mills was sniping with quick moves which ended with Craig Martin ripping the ball from a close quarter maul and dotting down. Tom Saddington converted to level the scores.
There had been plenty of promise from the visitors, a delightful chip and catch from Tom Saddington, direct runs from replacement Mikey Essex, crunching tackles from centre Will Heath, as well as safe hands from full back George Docker. But these highlights failed to bring much sunshine to the overall performance in the second half.
Redditch contrived to concede four more tries which may have flattered the home side but once heads started dropping it was hard to turn things around. The home side's back row began to dominate the ball, scrums were lost and platforms were built from which tries were scored. Interchanges, both forced and tactical, disrupted the visitors progress a little, The referee decided a couple of players deserved an enforced 10 min break following a scuffle. Spectacular runs by many of Redditch's back line were defended well by a home side whose confidence grew by the minute.
Chaddesley Corbett deserved their win and will be contenders for the title come April. If Redditch hope to be in contention too, they must learn to cut out the silly mistakes, retain the ball in the tackle, and be more consistent with tackles.
There were a lot good points to be brought out of this game which can be built upon next Saturday when they play at Aldridge in the National Vase game.
Report by Brian Carr
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