Sat 12 Oct 2024
Claverdon travelled over to Birmingham and Solihull Rugby Club, aka “Bee’s”, in hope to put an end to a few consecutive losses.
Claverdon began the game strongly with a huge defensive set, including big hits from Henry Thorneywork and Ben Brown. This ultimately lead to winning possession in our 22, which provided an attacking phase that took us up to a line-out in Bee’s 22. With the line-out won, a strike move to Henry Thorneywork broke the Bee’s defence, however was only to be held-up over the line. After the restart, Claverdon was again on the front-foot. There were some good phases of play which ended with another strike move to take the ball down the wing, then back inside to Thomas Phillips who stepped the last man to score under the posts. He converted his own try to make the score 0-7.
Claverdon knew this wasn’t enough and stepped it up another gear after the restart. After yet another huge defensive set, a turn-over from James Kirby on the half-way line allowed Claverdon to plot their next attack. Thomas Phillips kicked to the 22 to give the forwards an optimum platform for their set-piece. With the line-out won, and a driving maul taking the team up to the Bee’s 5m, Michael Jay shipped the ball out to James Williams who broke through the defence to score under the posts. James Williams with the conversion to take the score to 0-14.
The next lot of phases saw the possession switching between Bee’s and Claverdon numerous times. There was further solid defence by Claverdon, including huge hits from Jacob Line and crucial turn overs from Michael Jay and Jack Barwell to disallow Bee’s from scoring in the first half.
The score after the first half stayed at 0-14.
Claverdon’s defence from the start of the second half was strong, pinning Bee’s in their own 22. Ben Brown secured the turn-over, then a quick tap and go lead to strong carries from Jack Barwell and Thomas Bicknell, to allow Calvin Lynch to score in the corner. With the conversion missed, the score was now 0-19.
A lapse of concentration from Claverdon after the restart allowed Bee’s to break the defensive line and score in the corner. With the conversion successful, the score now 7-19.
Determined to make amends for the last restart, Claverdon worked a well set strike move which allowed Thomas Phillips to break through, then offload to Calvin Lynch to score in the corner. The conversion missed made the score 7-24. After a long interlude of exchanges of possession, Claverdon eventually found themselves attacking through open play in the Bee’s 22. Strong running, clinical passing and some champagne offloads between George Redwood and Calvin Lynch took Claverdon from one edge of the pitch to the other, allowing Michael O’Donnell to score in the corner. With the conversion missed, the score was 7-29.
After the restart, a good attacking phase from Bee’s ultimately ended in them breaking the Claverdon defensive line and scoring under the posts. The conversion successful, leaving the score 14-29.
The remainder of the game provided Claverdon with a penalty kick from the Bee’s 22m which Thomas Phillips successfully converted to bring the final score to 14-32.
This was a fantastically strong performance by 1 to 18 in the team, and we now look ahead to next week where we’re hosting Coalville at home for Claverdon’s VP’s day. Kick-off is 3pm as usual.
Report by James Kirby
