Sat 21 Dec 2019, 14:00
This mid table clash looked to be a close encounter on paper, Redditch however had other ideas and with a Craig Martin charge direct from the kick off they made their intentions clear from the start. The hard direct purposeful running was the enduring memory of the game that saw Redditch run in ten tries with everybody getting the opportunity to stretch their legs and have a run at a disjointed Bloxwich defence.
Lucas Bates was first to go close, he was the last man in a clever passing attack but was taken out with a head high tackle just short of the line. On another day it might have been given as a penalty try but a penalty and yellow card were the actual sanctions, Matt Allen had no trouble trundling over the line and round under the posts from the tap kick. Virtually from the restart a stray clearance kick was secured by Tom Saddington who fed the ever keen Allen who in turn released Clarke Parker to score easily.
The visitors heads started to drop just as the Redditch confidence went up a notch, James Mills made space and slipped a smart pass to Stuart Brookes who jinked his way through despairing tackles for number three. Craig Martin strode in for the fourth virtually from the half way line, before getting involved in an incident that could have turned the game. High or late tackles had been pattern for the visitors and following another such example Martin and their no8 exchanged blows, however theref only saw the retaliatory punch, and showed Martin a red card leaving Redditch to play 50min with a man short
There have been examples recently of Redditch getting a lead and sitting back allowing the opposition back into the game, there was no such danger today, they knuckled down, eliminated the errors and closed in for the kill instead. Despite going backward in a now underweight scrum, Mills was able to get quick ball released, Will Spires at fly-half found room to free up Saddington who in turn put Brookes in for his second. The previous four tries had all be converted but this this one fell short but still provided the Kingfishers with a very healthy 33-0 lead at the break.
Everyone seemed to be getting in on the action, Jack Mertens was making breaks in the centre , Saddington continued to weave into spaces, Harvey Habgood cleared up any loose ball at the back while hooker Mickey Essex made valuable metres, Stu Hope and Chris Upton joined in the battering of the Bloxwich back line and the game continued to played in the visitors half. A quick tap penalty freed Spires to give Jack Bacciocchi a clear run, he in turn passed to Connor Morris who showed a clean pair of heels all the way to the try line. Allen soon got his second from a weaving run from half way through limp tackles from a beaten side.
A few interchanges saw Nathan Marthews make a holiday special appearance in the back row and didn't take long to join in the fun, Cal Razzak made his first team debut on the wing and had opportunities to settle in
One area that Bloxwich were superior though was in the set scrum, their wile experience pack had a little too much for Redditch to cope with which was helped by having the extra man. On three occasions in the second half they found them selves with attacking scrums near the Redditch line, on each occasion they had enough to force their way through for scores. Not pretty, but still worth five points apiece to give the scoreline a little respectability.
The closing quarter virtually became the Matt Allen show, he ran in three more tries, all from over forty metres out and all were strong direct runs through tackles that were getting dispirited . His committed running, leading from the front and sack full of tries would normally have given him the man of the match accolade but instead it went to Will Spires, getting more and more confident in the newly discovered fly half role and the kicker of eight out of ten conversions.
With many games falling victim to the weather is was testament to Garry Mills, with his groundsman's hat on, for the work put into the pitch to keep it in playable condition.
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