Saturday 13th December 2008

Old Wheats v Coventrians (Flick Memorial Trophy) First contested on 16th April 1989 the trophy, in memory of Clayton Flick, is currently held by Covents.

It has to be said that we are a little disappointed with the Wheats' cry off. Covents know better than anyone this season what it's like to have player shortages but we could have evened the sides up. It wasn't a league game today so surely the point was to remember Clayton and not worry too much about who won or lost especially as the 20th anniversary approaches.


Coventrians 2nds 5 - 5 Coventry Tech

Honours Even as we Say Farewell to Mikey

Covents 2nd team (with 5 or 6 first team players) took on Cov Tech’s first team at a wet and muddy Black Pad today. After soaking up a lot of first half Tech pressure, Covents broke out in the 29th minute when Captain Danny Pearson charged down field and passing inside to Mikey Kiburi set up a good attack involving Chris Simons and Ben Davies. The move broke down but Covents were awarded a scrum in Tech’s 22. About now, one of their forwards received a yellow card leaving Tech with 14 players.

Covents were awarded a penalty in the 33rd minute but Ben Davies sent the kick wide from the heavy surface. Five minutes later, Covents were attacking again in the railway corner when Brum-half Carter was scragged and thrown at the referee, taking them both into touch. From the resulting play a kick from a Tech forward didn’t find touch and was caught well by Paul Brindley. Paul ran back and chipping over the green defence was unlucky not to score but Covents had shaken off their early match lethargy and were looking dangerous.

From a penalty in the 39th minute, the ball went down the line and Chris Simons put in Kylie Bonsor who stepped inside (he told me to write that) and scored in the corner. Apparently this is the first time a bloke who’s wider than he is tall and wearing a scrum cap has scored for Covents on the wing. Ben missed the conversion and the blue boys went in 5 – 0 up at half time.

Covents started well and two minutes into the second half Phil Jones put Paul Brindley in on halfway and a surging run saw him almost make the line before being held just short. Covents were on their game though and this was underlined in the 49th minute by a bulldozer hit from Phil Jones like the ones Tom Carter used to make before being denied his Shipston man of the match award.

In the 54th minute Dave Bailey came off with an injured shoulder (it’s in the clubhouse if anyone wants to claim it) to be replaced by Ryan and 4 minutes later HaydOn (with an O) Clarke received yellow for a little bit of Vallis skulduggery. How considerate of Steve to allow HaydOn a breather like that.

Unfortunately, on the hour an otherwise clean game was soured when Phil Jones was floored by a punch (which the referee didn’t see) during a break in play. At this point tempers began to fray with things getting tetchy. Phil left the field with a broken nose and two minutes later Tech scored. Fortunately for Covents, the conversion was a grubber and the score remained level at 5 – 5.

The blue boys came back in the 70th minute when Paul Brindley took a quick tap penalty to Danny who put Chris Simons in but was tackled about 10 yards short of the line and again moments later Paul Brindley was stopped close to the line again. The referee blew for time early and this was a pretty sensible decision as I for one was cold, damp, muddy, and hung over. This was not a scintillating display of flowing rugby but having said that, both sets of players did their best in the swamp-like conditions.

And so we say goodbye to the popular Mikey Kiburi who is returning home to Kenya on Sunday after several years of sterling service as a first team flanker and all round nice bloke. It was Mikey that started the website a couple of years ago and because of him that we’ve got what we have today. So Mike, thanks for everything on and off the field mate – safe journey tomorrow and don’t forget to stay in touch.