Sat 28 Sep 2019, 15:00
Redditch got their season back on track against Dixonians on Saturday with a well deserved victory and more importantly an overall performance that saw them build on a lot of recent positives and eliminate a lot of negatives.
A few more enforced team changes left them with a strong pack but light on experienced backs, again a few playing out of position.
However the whole result may have revolved around an incident in the tenth minute, a Dix back intercepted the ball deep in his own half and sprinted the length of the pitch for an inevitable try, Wing Forward Clarke Parker thought otherwise and chased back to haul his man down just shy of the line. Eventually the ball was cleared and the danger was over, had D scored it may have sunk the Kingfishers, as it happened their performance and belief went up a notch or two and they began to grow in confidence.
Playing with a brisk breeze behind him Ash Mooney was accurate with kicks to touch, one such kick taking R to within sniffing distance of the try line. A clean take, a couple of forward drives led to Craig Martin dragging the tacklers over the line with him to open the scoring, AM converted.
Despite the visitors having a larger pack they were relatively ineffectual against a R front eight who took it in turns to charge forward, not only finding the gaps but on many occasions gaining valuable meters. Jack Bacciocchi led the way, Micky Essex had a storming game at no 8, veteran Gareth Davies tackled everything in sight and supported tirelessly. CP continued to harass everyone wearing red, and the front row of Stu Hope, Loran Abbots and Dan Oscroft bettered their opposition and had more than their share of the ball driving forward.
AM extended the lead with a fine penalty kick. D struggled with kicking into the wind, one penalty clearance was left hanging which was returned with interest, resulting in in a similar scenario to the opening score, this time JB provided the finishing touch taking R into a 17-0 half time lead after an excellent touchline conversion from AM.
Facing the wind R chose to keep the ball tucked in with the forwards and not risk any stray kicks, spinning the ball wide when the opportunities presented themselves, Half back partners James Mills and Will Spires controlled the distribution carefully, nothing wild or risky. It paid off as D had little opportunity to get back into the game. Full back Harvey Habgood had his work cut out chasing aerial clearances in the swirling wind but coped very well as did fellow backline Lucas Bates Jack Mertens and Jon Beale.
Dan Oscoft hobbled off to be replaced by Keiran Davis who was determined not to be left out, it didn't take him long to get into the action and was nearly rewarded with a try after a 40m charge that saw him held up over the line. The territory gained was used effectively when JM popped a sweet reverse pass to JB to score his second try giving MoM AM his third conversion.
Although not on the pitch for long replacement back, Phil Harding also left his mark with a thumping tackle dislodging the ball but it could not be capitalised upon as it rolled free over the try line.
In the dying minutes the pattern of the game disintegrated and throwing caution to the wind D eventually got their try. It was disappointing to concede and also not to have scored a bonus point earning fourth try but that would have been the icing on a very tasty cake.
This Sat R travel just down the road to Hopwood to play Five Ways Edwardians to build on this very promising performance.
Report and photos by Brian Carr
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