From Needles to Nails

After Redditch last week (the home of needle manufacture) Evesham under 10s welcomed Halesowen (a town famed for the production of nails) to Lower Albert Road on Sunday. Old Halesonians brought an established team and a development side which provided a rare opportunity for Evesham to follow suit for the first two games and then mix things up for the second two.

Game 1 - Evesham B (Maroon) v Old Halesonians B
Enthusiasm would be the one word summary of this encounter, both sides rucking and counter rucking well as the new rules continue to settle in. Great to see the work load being shared around with some strong running on display from Oli Neal who showed a clean pair of heels before a try saving tackle denied him in the corner and Joel Duberley and Andrew Smithson putting themselves about and tackling well. Game one concluded Evesham 2 tries (Andrew Smithson and Max Arris) : Old Hales 0

Game 2 – Evesham A (Blue) v Old Halesonians A
Relishing the opportunity of a reunion for some and the chance to play in a different combination, Evesham A took to the field to face Old Hales A. In a riveting match to watch, experience was evident as both sides strung together passes and gained territory only to be met with solid defence and counter attack. A high speed run by Will Gilderson resulted in a try and later Evesham scored a second through a determined straight run by Will Brett who was then helped over the line by Tom Merrell, both claiming downward pressure – that will have to go down as ½ each which makes a mockery of JB’s carefully constructed try tally. Evesham 2 : Old Hales 0 the final score.

Game 3 – Evesham Blues v Old Hales ‘blues’
A rejig of personnel and shirts to the more traditional Blues side of recent weeks saw more strong running and the elusive offload start to appear which helped Archie ‘sidestep’ Johnson cross the whitewash twice and Big Tom Merrell once before a headlong charge from a restart saw Hamish Cross hammer through the Old Hales defensive line to make it 4. Only some robust try saving tackles from the usual suspects denied Old Hales a reply. Evesham 4 : Old Hales 0

Game 4 – Evesham Maroons v Old Hales ‘yellows’
With the knocks starting to take their toll, strong running down the wing from Amelie Appleby set the standard with Will ‘mighty’ Mullen getting stuck in as well. James Hoare scored a good individual try shortly after coming on as sub, Jake Hopkins scored his first before coming back on after a knock to get a second and the ever present Will Gilderson showed real pace to score a couple. Towards the end of the match Old Hales broke the Evesham defence for what was a well deserved try for the visitors. Evesham 5 : Old Hales 1

Credit to Old Hales who played every minute of every match with a determination not reflected in the scoreline.

Try Scorers this week Gilderson (3), Hopkins (2), Johnson (2), Cross (1), Smithson (1), Arris (1), Hoare (1), Merrell (1.5), Brett (0.5)

Thanks to Ed, unmissable in yellow, for refereeing to his usual high standards.

Man of the Match this week was Will Gilderson for teamwork, fine running and solid defence, although the Pirouette in the middle of his last run of the day was more ‘Take That’ than Mike Catt (ask your dad).