Sat 14 Oct 2023
Claverdon’s 1st XV travelled away to Birmingham & Solihull on Saturday in an attempt to get back to winning ways after the loss to Barkers Butts. The game started positively for the visitors - less than two minutes in, centre, Roger Jackson carried hard helping Michael O’Donnell to earn Claverdon’s first points of the afternoon. Bees responded well with a series of well worked carries and a penalty which was kicked to the corner. A driving maul sent their pack over the line to equalise. However, Claverdon piled on further pressure with solid phases from both the forwards and backs. A clever kick through from Calvin Lynch saw Roger Jackson add his name to the scoresheet, while James Williams added points for the conversion. Will Jackson; centre, and brother of Roger, decided it was his time to earn some points for the team. A brilliant rip tackle from Chris Johnson allowed Will to bulldoze his way over the line. The score going into halftime read 22-5 to Claverdon.
The second half saw Bees turn their performance up a notch. Not willing to accept defeat, Bees scored within five minutes of the second half starting. This set the tone for the rest of the match as Bees piled on the pressure. Despite Michael O’Donnell’s second try of the afternoon, Bees remained determined to succeed. Some poor game management from Claverdon saw Bees earn a penalty kick in the last play of the game right in front of the posts. In dramatic style, the kick saw the ball hit the left post and bounce in to earn Bees the victory.
The match ended 29-27.
By Hilton Garner-Jones
