Aston Old Eds vs Vikings, 16 Nov, 1415

[tomj]

Note this fixture has been swapped from home to away after consideration of who was likely to have a playable pitch after the biblical levels of rain this week.  With Mose and Oak 1sts both home, the Vikings would have had the less good of the pitches on the Common, so it was decided the game was more likely to go ahead at Aston.

As with Oak 1sts, sorry for the lack of graphic.

1. Mark Henry

2. Dan Bellenger

3. Tom Joyce (c)

4. Archie Yoxall

5. Dave Bayliss

6. Dom

7. John Lynch

8. Charlie Owen

9. Josh McMurray

10. Rob George

11. Tommy Galbraith

12. Uggy

13. Alex Bell

14. Ben Wabe Smith

15. Elliot



16. Kriss

17. Jack Richards

18. Jack Lonie

19. Jack Edmunds

[tomj]

The decision to switch the fixture to Aston's ground proved wise as even with the pick of the pitches on the Common, Oak's game had to be moved to Camp Hill due to standing water on the field of play.
Vikings started strongly, almost too strongly; the success of our attacking moves seemed to lead us to think we could score from every phase and push things just a little too far; case in point, was John Lynch crossing the line but being adjudged to have taken one roll more than momentum would have provided and penalised for double movement. However, it didn't take too long to calm down the half-notch needed and Ben Wabe-Smith crashed through to open the Vikings' account. More Vikings tries followed, from all over the park: Mark Henry taking a quick ball standing at one in the lineout then smashing down the 5m channel to score; Archie Yoxall snaffling lose ball at the back of an overthrown Aston line and giving it to the backs who moved it quickly to the opposite wing for Tommy Galbraith to whizz past a wrong-footed defence for an excellent finish; then Archie crashing over himself for his first Vikings try. Unfortunately this was interspersed with some annoyingly lax moments; one where a defensive alignment error allowed Aston to canter through the middle and a passage of 5 or 6 consecutive offside penalties gifting them field position to score another. This gave Aston a bit of hope that the first 20 minutes of pure Viking pressure had almost destroyed in them.

In the second half this hope was bolstered by having the slope and by a form of amnesia spreading across the Viking side, who seemed to have collectively lost the will or ability to tackle. Despite another try from John Lynch, Aston had clawed their way back to within 4 points with about quarter of an hour to play. This realisation lead to the Vikings going up a gear and putting the pressure back on, eventually leading to a penalty 10m from the middle of the Aston posts. Opting to take a scrum, an area in which the Vikings had been dominant all match, proved to be the right decision; Charlie Owen was able to pick up from the base and crash through for a try to which Rob George added the extras. After that even a late, unconverted try from Aston wasn't enough to spoil the Viking' raiding party. There was lot to be pleased with in the performance, but a lot to work on as well; it's a worry that after some very dominant periods the difference on the score board was Jack Edmunds slotting 4 from his 5 conversion attempts and Rob George's final conversion, versus Aston's 2 from 6 attempts.

MotM: Elliot Watton for being one of the few who remembered how to tackle in the 2nd half and stepping up to hooker for the final few scrums of the game.
Final score AOE 34 - 40 Vikings.

Tean: Jack Richards, Elliot Watton, Alex Bell, Ben Wabe-Smith, Tommy Galbraith, Jack Edmunds, Josh McMurray, Charlie Owen, John Lynch, Dom O'Neill, Dave Bayliss, Archie Yoxall, Tom Joyce (capt), Dan Ballenger, Mark Henry
Replacements (all used): Kriss Bircher, Jack Lonie, Rob George