Kiddie come to Evesham

My first venture into professional journalism, so here goes...........................................

With the weather having taken a seasonally chilly turn, at last, 24 hardy Evesham U12s turned out to play Kidderminster RFC. JB and Ed showed their dedication to the cause and turned out at 8.30am to check ground conditions, when most of us were just lifting our heads from the pillow and deciding what to have for breakfast!! Well done chaps.

With Evesham having enough for 2 full teams and Kiddy about a team and a half it was decided by all to play an A and a dev side playing 4 x 15 min quarters, so teams were picked, positions selected, warm ups done and drills run. Game time!!

First quarter was the A team:
JSD, Cake, Big Tom, Rhino, Bretty, Maximus, Will G, Hagrid, Jamie, James H, Joel and Slippery(Capt).
Kidderminster kicked off, which Evesham gathered cleanly and put through a couple of pairs of hands, ending up in Slippery’s, who lived up to his name and crossed over for the first score. Kiddy again kicked off and again the Evesham boys ran back hard, with Hagrid showing a clean pair of heels and crossing over for the score. Kiddy this time decided to receive, allowing them some time on the ball and showing their strength with some good rucking and mauling, however the Evesham boys responded well, with some good play of their own, with Will G crossing for a try and Slippery another 2.

Second quarter saw the Dev side take the field:
Big Ollie, Geordie, Will T, Matt P, George T, Isaac, Rocky (Capt), Serge, Will L, Fin, Indie and Smithy
This was a much closer contest with both teams showing some great commitment in both attack and defence. After some powerful running, Kiddy were the first to cross the white wash with a well worked try. The Evesham lads did not crumble and stepped their game up with everyone putting in a great shift. This culminated with Smithy crossing the line in the dying moments of the quarter to level the scores. A mention must go to Rocky for putting in a great try saving tackle on the left touchline.

3rd quarter:
Again the A side took the field. This was a more a more bruising encounter with a lot more rucking and mauling. Both teams showed great dedication and skill with Evesham`s next 4 tries being hard fought. One more from Slippery, one for Hagrid and 2 more for Will G, one of which was a lovely team try which showed off the best the Evesham boys have to offer.

4th and final quarter:
The dev lads again took the field with renewed confidence. This turned out to be a real arm wrestle of a match, with not too much open running rugby. Both sides went at it with great gusto with Kiddy crossing for the 1st try. Evesham struck back with one of the few forays of running rugby, with Smithy crossing for a try. Kiddy again struck back with more powerful rucking, forcing over for another try in the dying moments of the quarter.

Final scores were Evesham 10 tries, Kidderminster 3. All the games were hard played, but with good sportsmanship.

Man of the match went to Will T for a great shift in the forwards with some excellent ripping of the ball, as well as giggling away in many rucks.

The Aimee Award went to Rocky for his try saving tackle in the 2nd quarter.

Hope I haven’t forgotten anything, or anyone. Apologies if I have!!