Redditch RFC

Despite the amount of rain that has fallen recently the first team pitch was in prefect condition for this close league encounter, however the second team pitch was a swamp and that game regrettably had to be called off.

A tentative start from both sides made for a messy opening few minutes, wayward kicks from both sides were dealt with comfortably with the R fullback Will Baillon having plenty of opportunity to run the ball.

The scrums were evenly matched in the tight but in the loose the visitors seemed to be a little more savvy, niggling R, pushing the offside line to the limit, and making some tackles with borderline timing. The overall effect was to disrupt the fluency of the regular R game plan and forcing handling and passing errors, it was not pretty but it was effective.

The R' cause was not helped when prop Dan Oscroft, dealing out his own retribution, was spotted by the referee and was asked to take a short break, RW soon took advantage of the extra man scoring a try out wide which was converted for a 0-7 lead.

Man of the Match Will Heath at flyhalf mixed the game up nicely, he combined well with new centre find Mason Jones who in turn made a lot of ground bursting through tackles and setting up the ball for supporting forwards. Matt Allen played his regular game leading from the front, ably supported by Jack Bacciocchi, Craig Martin and Stuart Brookes who took their turn pushing back the RW defensive line. Micky Essex and Clarke Parker battled effectively in the back row.

Yet the next score came from the visitors, a long range penalty kick and a simple cutting line through the centres saw RW take a 0-17 lead into the break. Though they may have had the edge overall the score flattered them. 

The second half saw a much better performance from the Kingfishers, the forwards upped their game and took the ball forward with a greater intention. The strategy paid off gained territory and confidence but the tactic may have been overplayed a little as the backs were getting frustrated, when the ball was shipped wide the eagerness of the backs to prove a point too often resulted in lost possession.

The breakthrough came from a little bit of magic from Will Heath, a delightful combination run with Mason Jones ended with a blind reverse flicked pass to Will Baillon who strolled over to score. The score pumped R up to greater heights they started to play their best rugby of the day in the following phases. But the more they clawed their way back into the game the more fractious it became. There were some borderline legal tackles, some obstructions and at times handbags were thrown. R were fighting back in the game and RW didn't like it. 

Everyone knew the next score would be crucial and R got it. having battled they way in to the RW 22m zone they won a scrum, moved it to the blind side and Stuart Brookes grounded the ball, mason Jones converted superbly from the touchline to bring the score to 12-17 and into the last ten minutes.

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It was ia tense closing passage of play and as the clock ticked down R knew they had to do something special to break through, but in the last play of the game they tried that little bit too hard and fumbled the ball, Rugby Welsh capitalised with the lose ball and scored in the far touch to give the scoreline a look that R didn't deserve..