This Saturday afternoon, with the sun smiling over Littlemore, the men in resplendent blue and white gave their all in the season’s final push. With Aylesbury as worthy opponents, we were determined to put on a show for the gathering crowd. Thankfully, at the end of a hard season for clubs up and down the leagues, both sides came ready to play!
Aylesbury kicked off and immediately put our catcher under pressure, a sign of things to come. They brought a lot of energy to the pitch, some a little too much. Only a few minutes into the match our referee was forced to draw the red card for foul play in the ruck towards our esteemed captain, Jason (Prop). This meant the Aylesbury defence was constantly stretched and we sought to hit it hard.
Aylesbury opened the scoring during a back and forth period of the first half where both sides gained confidence. All season we have worked on our attacking positioning and running tight supporting lines. This can be hard to pull off in the heat of a match but something clicked in the mind of one young man. David Lammin (Flanker) ran hard just as a big prop rushed up on our fly half, and burst through the hole that had been left behind. Although he was only just beyond the half way line and had about 3 men to beat, David’s run was immediately accompanied by calls to, “Go for the line!” Tackled around the 22, we rucked over quickly and a quick pop to Ben Filmer (Flanker) initially fell short but the ball was hacked over the goal line where he fell on it to finish a great move!
Throughout the game our defence worked very hard. We were able to shut down the bigger blokes in the centre of their backline and force them wide. They did manage to outflank us on several occasions but, even then, outstanding effort from our whole team to chase prevented them scoring. We struck later in the half after repeated carries pushed Aylesbury defence beyond their limits. Sweet passes ending up in the hands of Nathan Adams as he ran through an open gap with a clear view of the line. Even multiple players hanging off him could not prevent him from slam dunking the ball on the line!
At the start of second half, Aylesbury rang the replacements and consequently gained a significant fitness advantage over us. We struggled to make ground in attack but still managed to dominate in the scrum and force our way close to the line. Aylesbury continued to be rebuffed down the middle of the field but did round us several times.
The game ended with us in attack, a tap and go penalty 10m out from the line and a pass falling agonisingly through the fingers of our winger. A great effort to make sure we pushed for all 80 minutes.
After the game we celebrated a great season and enjoyed the spirit we have developed in the team. We shared drinks with our opposition in the rugby tradition and thought about what is in store for this team next season!
Final Score
Littlemore 12 – 42 Aylesbury
Man of the Match
Trevor Wilson who covered a lot of ground at full back and pulled off some amazing attacking runs
Honourable Mentions
Everyone who turned up and supported! We play for our community and it means a lot to us when we are cheered on!