Shelford 5 : 36 ish Wendons Ambo (written by Richard Craddock)
 
A plethera of players was the only way to describe my main problem this week. I had 28 eager beavers wanting to play for the mighty 5ths this week and had to say no to several of them to allow the rest to get a run out. Thank you for responding so well and I hope that you can give me that problem every week. Down to the game, after a thorough warm up which push a couple of the flu riddled lads to ask for only a half we started on a perfect Saturday afternoon for rugby.

Morale was high and we then went into a period of intense work again as they pressed into attack mode and we were over run by their backs (until brave Ed Jazz Hands took their best player out with a suicide mission ) We showed patches of excellent play but were unlucky with either a simple school boy error or good defence work. The forward gelled well but the more experienced Wendon pack had more control of the ball in the early stages. we shipped it out and all the backs got a touch and a chance to run at the opposition. Chris L was again strong in attack as well as Tom M . Jim R (on deaths doors only a week ago) had his hands full as their back row was overly eager to get at him (between the lines speak for not binding) and the number 8 was making increasingly more effective runs from the base of the scrum. This challenge was handled by our worthy flankers Ed 'NuMan' W and Pat the Tat who tackled everthing they throw at us.

 

Nick performed hooker gymnastics at times to get the ball back from between their second row feets ! and we trundled on , only slightly effected by them scoring at regular intervals. I would now like to apologise for my unique kicking move in the first half - on paper it look fine , three of their players thundering down on me. I see there is a big gap just behind them and I decide to 'dink' it over them, now it might have looked bizarre to the rest of the team but in my head it was a stroke of genius. Sadly history will only remember it as a disaster only saved by their knock on. I will continue to drop another of these little moves into my game but not luckily not on a regular basis. I would also like to remind the jury of my exemplary tackles during the game in my defence and several strong runs. The case for the defence rests m'lord.

We had then an ephiphany and started to play them on their back foot and camped in their half for the later part of the first half with near misses from Tom M ,Pat , Jules and Chris L.

Half time saw a lot subs made only because of the number of lads we had on the sideline eager to come on. More injuries befell Wendons ,in particular a nasty gash to the forehead which was still impressing the ladies of 'Allbarone' some 6 hours later !  Our new lineup continued to made inroads as did their subs and we exchanged tackles and attacks in equal measure. they scored a few more before we eventually got a deserved try with the backs pulling off a well worked move to get Tom 'Centre' in the corner with only minor breathing difficulties.Special mention must go to Wendon star sub Lee 'Jonah Lomu' Coney who not only nearly killed our winger but managed to flatten a ball like you see in cartoons ! 

 

The game ended there but the rest of Saturday was taken up with the light taking of ale and general bonhomme in a few pubs in town. Highlights being Jim R's terrible attempt at ' a Roger Moore' with his coat. Wendon's  very own 'Terry Butcher' did far better for a while but bombed out when the whole bandage was removed to reveal his face !

The night ended for me ( a lightweight ) with a delicous meal in the Curry Garden (bookings are available and delicous food is always served - there's my 10% dscount sorted) lovely day lads and I hope for many more. We have made the half way stage of the season in fantastic shape and the against points is half what it was last season. See you all soon.