Battle of Stow 10:46 (am)

(Yes I know the Battle of Stow was actually in 1646, but its dark then).

Evesham made the ascent to Stow on Sunday with two equal ability sides ready to play at altitude against Stow and Old Richians who were also visiting from Gloucester. Conditions were perfect, we had even ordered sunshine to keep Mrs Gilderson happy.

Two teams from Stow, two from Evesham and one from Old Richians meant no shortage of opposition on the 2 pitches at our disposal. With parallel games on both pitches, James coached Maroons and JB coached Blues whilst Ed ran about with a whistle.

Game 1 – Evesham Blues v Stow Blacks
Stow, playing our rules (the new ones), fielded a strong side with some big units charging about who really took some stopping. Evesham defence however was typically rugged and up to the challenge, Stow then proved themselves to be similarly determined in defence as Evesham threw bulk, pace and often both in their direction. Two strong running tries from Hamish Cross were met with a single try in reply. Evesham 2 : Stow 1

Game 2 – Evesham Maroons v Old Richians
Both teams showed great appetite around the break down which was fairly contested and with frequent turnovers. Through fantastic work from Amelie Appleby Evesham had the flow of the ball at the breakdown enabling Olly Wycherley to score 4 break away tries. With big hits coming from both sides, Will Gilderson shrugged off an early impact to tackle the same player twice which resulted in a try from the turnover. Evesham 4 : Old Richians 0

Game 3 – Evesham Blues v Stow Whites
Another closely contested game saw ruck and counter ruck feature prominently. Archie ‘sidestep’ Johnson crossed the whitewash with a trademark run before Tom Davies ran from his own half, trailing opposition as he went to reach the tryline and be denied only by a lack of evident downward pressure, but still managed to offload to Tom Merrell who put the ball down for the try. Evesham 2 : Stow 0

Game 4 – Evesham Maroons v Stow
Stow were grateful to James Hoare who stepped in to make it 8 a side and showed great commitment to his adopted team against Maroons. Stow showed good awareness of the pitch using the width and breaking the line but a strong Maroons defence denied many scoring opportunities. The game was not without injuries and to the significant pride of both coaches the players kept getting up for more. With the score 2-0 at half time (Wycherley and Gilderson), Stow fought back to 2-2 with only a line break from Will Gilderson giving maroons the win. Evesham 3 : Stow 2

Game 5 – Evesham Blues v Old Richians
Last match of the day and another test for Blues defence as Old Richians unleashed some big lads as the first runner from the restart. Again Evesham absorbed the pressure, sharing defensive duties well before counter attacking. In the end it was pace that was the answer with 2 tries for Will Brett and a try each for Sidestep Johnson and Big Tom Merrell. Evesham 4 : Old Richians 0

Try scorers this week : Wycherley (5), Gilderson (2), Cross (2), Brett (2), Johnson (2), Merrell (2)

Thanks to Ed for his no nonsense marshalling of the Blues games, much admired by one of the Stow coaches.

Thanks also to the Stow ref who was fair, consistent and explained the rules so that both teams understood every situation.

Lastly our gratitude to the opposition who agreed to play our rules to make a game of it (no lineout, uncontested scrum and limited numbers at the breakdown). Not easy to adapt to changes on the spot, all clubs played entirely in the spirit of the game.

Man of the Match was Tom Davies for stepping up this week, competing for the ball well and doing all the work for that Tom Merrell try.