Saturday 18th October 2008

Earlsdon Thirds 36 – 10 Coventrians Seconds

The second team put in another spirited display today in a match that was contested quite evenly for the final hour (unfortunately we were 24 nil down after 20 minutes). In contrast to last week, we had a multitude of players and fielded 8 substitutes. Unbeaten all season, Earlsdon 3rds are an experienced and well drilled side. Built around Yorkie’s scrummaging with Nigel Ball at scrum half and an obscenely fit looking Murphy at No 8 they are a force to be reckoned with and caught us cold in the first quarter, running in tries at will while their fullback sat back and smoked a large Havana.

Covents hit back though when suddenly the Earlsdon defence opened like the red sea and nimble scrum half Terry Mosey found himself 30 yards from the line with ball in hand. He rolled back the years with what seemed to resemble a sprint but as the old boiler reached full tilt with line beckoning, a loud blast of the ref’s whistle shattered his “retire on a high” dreams and he was finally replaced by Crash after 30 minutes suffering from a sore knee, burst lungs and speed burns.

With the boys in blue finally starting to compete, the substitution paid dividends in the 36th minute when Crash made a break and put the club’s leading try scorer, Ben Davies in at the corner. Unfortunately Ben couldn’t convert but we went in at half time 31 – 5 down with renewed heart.

The second half featured a much better performance from Covents as they wore down “Dad’s Army” with a mixture of good forward play, passing and running from the backs and recreating Piccadilly Circus with substitutes coming and going every 30 seconds. Unfortunately the referee continued to baffle both sides by continuing his curate’s egg of a performance and the ridiculous became farce as Murphy, finding himself illegally in space (with everyone stopped) looked to the man in green for direction but as none was forthcoming, played on only to be pulled back by the whistle after reaching full speed.

After 55 mins, Covents’ pressure told as fly-half “Timmo” made a break after good work in the pack and beating three players, touched down under the posts. Unfortunately, Crash missed the conversion by making Chris Potter’s daisy-cutter last week look like a Garryowen. Covents had the best of the last quarter the highlights of which were a solo run by Frenchman Alexander (the Great?) and in the 78th minute, Crash and Gareth interlinking well only to be stopped just short of the line.

With our injury woes this season the club is fighting at Rourke’s Drift, Arnhem and The Alamo. We can only hope that key players return soon and turn our battles into Trafalgar, Waterloo and Goose Green.