Friendly, Sat 9 Sep 2006

Paviors II 10 - Hamians 45

A trip to Burnstump Park with an A team may not seem the most sensible way to kick off your pre season friendlies but that was the order of the day ..

the older members of the squad remembered when fixtures at places like ilkeston ,mellish , here and moderns were the norm ...good league season could result in these fixtures being renewed..

Those long lazy early summer evenings in Riga sipping lager and gazing at foriegn beauties seemed light years past as we entered yhe wooded glade and the the home of Pavors RFC . Their first team were in league action so we were pitted aginst their third string , a mixture of former first team players and youthful up and coming backs...the ref a former hamians player whose son plays in their minis (split loyalities )

A Dangerous combination ....or so it seemd

the pitch not like Riga was grass covered , not sand and grit , but had been enlongated to give short in goal areas...

pre season training had resulted in over 30 different people attending but we had the bare 15 plus a couple of spares....dbuts to american phil in the centre , goonie on the wing , anvil at hooker and jonny perkins benching after a 5 year lay off..

several players were in unusual positions with a starting line up of

Epps at full back , yorkie and gonnie on he wing , phil and phil in the centre with shing and gollum at half backs ....hobbit , dainty jnr and the pikey formed a short back row , dave and pud at lock with cluesso , anvil and fat prop as a front row ....jon p and jez ( fetching some milk ) as the bench

gollum did point out their was actually a bench at one end of the pitch ...funny how he spots these things

the sun was streaming down , 20 minute water breaks were agreed

they won and elected to play up the slope with the sun behind them

hamians kick off (shing !) yorkie follows up , good tackles made . there pack intended to pick up and drive ..good resistance forced them to kick .

pace of game a little frantic , using the pikey at two too spoil ball is effective with first one pinched

shing , it must be said , was whispering to his centes and the speed of the steal and gollums whipped pass means the ball passes him as he wasn't looking ...

both phils in the centre can clearly make enrodes into their defence and with epps rampant from full back things look promising ...these positions are only possible as hamians lineout variations and accurate throws from the hobbit (except one ) mean all ball is the hamians ..

Pud peels from one lineout , receives some knuckles ...penalty ...hamians chip for corner

lineout good , central mvt and drive looks like pikeys over , second spin and drive pulled down but hobbit bashes over off short ball

paviors moaning about physical nature and use of elbows...hamians giving back chat

pud catches kick off long gallops up pitch , quick rucked ball and touch found ..leavey snaffles another ...ball ran

Pavoirs strugglin with pace ...good line out following pavs killing quick ball

hobbit slightly late on tackle to no 8 , back chat , no 8 struggles and goes off for rest

four ball and drive , released and Epps over in the corner...

Good start and all ball hamians

Hobbit takes kick off , bashes one mid field second hit up envolves elbow ...penalty

Pavs run it , good defence fringe and in open play ...first scrummage

Hamians engagement adequate , hold shove .Snaffle back row move . Win own put in ,pressure at scrum half and pinched

Defend well again . Give penalty over top they miss kick yorkie scoots back good ground , quick hands left , american phil cuts inside and away , out strips defence to corner ...oh no tosses ball inside to yorkie 5 yds from line and defence scramble away .

Pavs cannot secape from 22 , line outs dominated and good ball ensues , niggle evident and penalties given by both sides ...

hamians policy of quick penalty options , working ...and gollum quick play dummying fat prop pivet allows shing to give anvil a debut 5 metre run in ...

hamians field kick , hit up and clear line

mikey warning about early jumping at line out

pavs keeping good field position from scrummage and forward drives , waste a number of blindside opportunities ...good cover tackling hamians although dubious ref decsion allows knock on to go unnoticed and score in corner although ball not grounded ...

kick off , yorkie follows up well , causes panic and poor touch kick

couple of good lineouts forward drives , ball out wide , comes back yorkie held up drives on , ball grounded over line ...no poor pitch marking exra 5 yd line !!!!, scrummage , lots of pressure ...lineout 22 , good ball eppsy enters line and goonie scores in corner ( ref gave it )

half deteriotiates with penalties ffor petty offences, back chat and also marched back 10 yds ...

22 -5 half time and several chances gone beggin

up slope second half . goonie has rest , pikey on wing , jon p second row and pud steps to loose head .

second half yorkie again chases down gets us good field position ....lineout changes taking time to settle

hamians still running ball from any where

pavs more physical but good defence ...forcing play hamins given to mistakes allowing pressure to build

defend series of scrummages

shing makes good break form on half , good hands , yorkie tackled . penalty at ruck .

pressure releasd , both phils mahing good breaks in midfield

hobbit again warned for elbows .

American phil cuts upfield , hands not quite good and defence scramble away , another back chat penalty


Lineout own half . Shing shows and goes and runs solo effort to score

fatprop and the inspector swap , game still open but silly mistakes mean greater no of scrums , suits pavs and good field position

defence sound, pavs kick penalty

hobbit sin binned , repetition we presume

jez gives penalty for verbal hand bags

good eppsy tackling from fullback prevents break aways

game ends with hamians pressing pavs 22 , a good reflection on the overall game

Pavs as per usual were good hosts , and pleasant beers had on balcony overlookin the forest