Sat 16 Sep 2023
Claverdon were back in action this week against a strong Southam side following a last play try securing the win at Uttoxeter.
Claverdon received the kick off and started with a bang forcing mistakes from Southam which led to a penalty in the opposition 22. Claverdon elected to go for the line out which was taken well by Chris Johnson but were denied points by a heavy defence from Southam leading to a goal line drop out. Claverdon attacked hard again and forced the penalty from their opposition which was in range for James Williams who successfully took Claverdon to a 3-0 lead.
Claverdon continued with an energetic attack with some fine displays of defence in the centres capitalising on the mistakes from Southam with James Williams channeling his inner George Ford to fire a drop goal through the posts. 6-0 Claverdon.
Much of the same continued throughout the first half with great defence from both teams until a great line break from Claverdon’s inside centre Will Jackson which saw the first try of the match taking the hosts to 13-0 with a successful conversion from James Williams.
Spurred on by this try Southam launched a strong attack against the lions with a few hard carries around the fringes leading to them having some space on the wing to score a try in the bottom right corner despite almost being denied by scrum half Luke Sibley who put in a near perfect tackle that should have landed the opposition in touch. The score was 13-5 at the half time break.
Southam started the second half on all cylinders leaving the hosts to put in a lot of defensive work for the first twenty minutes of the last period. James Williams secured another 3 points for the Lions but they could not keep control of a break away attack from Southam that saw the visitors secure another 5 points taking the score to 16-5.
Claverdon responded well with a flawless line out from the forwards on the visitors ten metre line leading to a full team try that saw Josh Evans touch the ball down on the white wash with James Williams again securing the 2 points making the score 23-10 to the hosts.
Special mentions have to go out to Stan Lawrence for his debut for Claverdon 1st XV making the most tackles for the Lions.
Report by Josh Smallwood
