After a solid away fixture vs Whitehall RFC the 1st XV were keen to keep up the momentum with a Super Saturday home victory against Avonmouth RFC. Es had beaten Avonmouth at their ground earlier in the season but not convincingly and largely due to Avonmouth being reduced to 13 men for 10 minutes, so this home tie would be interesting.

Squad: Greg Foord, James Brooke, Jack Houlder, Adam Skyner, Tom Bendall, Dougal Broom, Henry Kirkpatrick, Jakob Harding, Sam Hygate, Alex Potts, Alex Lee, Pat Dore, Sam Brewer, Ewan Crowley, Arthur Mills

Match Report: Great take under pressure by Jack Houlder immediately from the kick off securing the ball well for his team mates but then unfortunately Es lost the ball as a result of a knock on, the first of several throughout the game which halted Es advances a number of times! First scrum went ok and other than a few times it stood firm throughout the game with once gain Jakob Harding doing some good work at No.8. Avonmouth had some early possession but most of the time the Es defence stood firm and actually drove them backwards. Es then stepped up the pace and put together a good attack with the ball travelling down through the 3/4’s line to winger Fullback Arthur Mills who went over for a try converted by Sam Hygate (7-0). The restart didn’t travel 10m and from the resultant scrum Jakob Harding set up an attack which saw Arthur Mills go over for his second try, followed by a brilliant conversion from Sam Hygate (14-0), an impressive start from Es but very quickly Avonmouth struck back with a converted try of their own to remind Es that this was going to be no pushover (14-7). The Mouth continued to test the Es defence but the Es Blue Wall stood firm, albeit it seemed as if Es were entering into a contest up front rather than using their superiority out wide! The first of a number of telling runs saw Teddy Bristow get Es into a good position, followed by a penalty to Es, kicked to touch and a good catch and drive from the forwards.Another penalty was quickly taken by Teddy who offloaded to Pat Dore who ran in for a good try & Conversion to extend Es lead to (21-7). Another good line and drive with the ball moved out in the backs ended with another knock on! Good tackling from Tom Bendall unfortunately couldn’t stop Avonmouth running in a well worked converted try in the far left hand corner (21-14) and Es were once again pegged back to 7 points.

Half Time

Unfortunately the number of knock ons didn’t improve in the second half but the game overall was a good even contest. Somewhere in the second half Avonmouth were reduced to 14 men but not sure exactly when or why!! Ben Charlton made a good line out steal and a good clearance kick from Arthur Mills Brough back Es to half way. A couple of good line outs and drives from Es followed with the second being bolstered by the backs and Pat Dore went over for a try, not converted (26-14). Es were on the up at this stage of the game and a 50m break by Teddy Bristow saw him ship the ball to Jack Boulder who broke the Avonmouth line and gave Jack a good try, with Peter Lytle converting the kick (33-14). Es pounced back immediately from the kick off with another spectacular break by Arthur Mills who chipped the ball back into the centre of the pitch where Pat Dore was racing through, enabling him to punt the ball further before gathering and going over for a great second try of his, converted by Peter Lytle (40-14). Then Arthur made another defence busting run and looked certain to score in the corner but he unfortunately dropped the ball over the line.
Avonmouth however had not given up and the last words for this game went to them with two tries bringing the score back to (40-26) at Full Time. A good Es performance in the main but Avonmouth are not a team that just lie down and give up and but for the large number of knock ons for Es the score could have potentially been even better in Es favour!

Next week Es travel to table topping Dings Crusaders II XV to face a difficult challenge but with the team in high spirits after Super Saturday, who knows. I’ll see you at their ground next Saturday.

Man of the Match: Arthur Mills - made some telling runs into the heart of the Avonmouth defence putting Es on the front foot time and time again.

Dick of the Day: Arthur Mills Ran 2/3 the length of the pitch to score but regrettably dropped the ball over the try line.

Spectators Man of the Match: Jack Houlder, a really solid game at Prop and led the Es Pack well.