Sat 11 Jan 2020
Claverdon made the short trip to Civil Service on a wet and windy Saturday. Following some early morning drop outs captain Barton was forced to make some last minute changes. James Kirby found himself in his old position out on the wing whilst Jordan Simpson and James Bush made their first starts in their preferred positions.
After losing the toss Claverdon played down the slight slope but with the wind behind them. They knew they would need to pile on the pressure in the first 40 minutes if they were going to hold the civil service attack in the second 40.
Claverdon started as well as they could have. After keeping CS pinned in their own 22 from the kick off, the CS fly half was forced to kick into the wind. Giving possession to Clav just outside the 22. Steve Grimsley found Ben Webster who then set for a driving maul, after making some head was Mikey Jay sent the ball wide to Simpson, a hard line from Matthew Dunster saw the centre crash over the line in under 5 minutes after some time out. 0-7
With the wind blowing a gale the restart fell short of the 10m line. Scrum centre field to Claverdon. With a dominant scrum Barton fed Tom Johnson on a hard line. A quick switch saw Simpson feed Sam Turrell on the opposite side of the scrum who beat his opposite man, then stepped the covering tackle, before handing off the full back to score a great individual try under the posts. Converting his own try the lions w eat 14 points clear, 0-14
Half way through the half CS looked to their bench for some experience. This showed when their scrum held solid allowing them to attack from centre field. Following several penalties from the lions CS were soon deep in the Clav half. A quick tap penalty saw the CS flanker crash over. 5-14
Words behind the posts from Barton were that 20 points with the slope was a minimum, and with not long left Claverdon soon to charge once again. A solid scrum just inside the CS half gave the backs a good platform to work off. Working the ball wide James Kirby found himself barrelling over in the corner for his first of the game, 5-21
Half time 5-21
Clav knew they now had to work that little bit hard against the wide and up slight slope. Continued strong scrummaging from Colin Marklew and Tom Hudson allowed the backline to have good attacking ball. Good yards from Joe Turrell put Clav on the front foot once again. However good forward defence form CS snuffed out the attack, allowing them to clear their lines.
An onslaught of pressure came from CS as the played well with the wind against their backs. The results favoured the home side who wen over twice to bring the scores close with just 5 minutes left to play. 17-24
Claverdon knew they needed to regain possession from the restart if they were to have any chance of reaching the bonus point. A deep kick followed by a good chase from Luke Ford forced the knock on from CS. Jay found himself gathering the ball and with a basketball pass fed Barton who was stopped a metre short. Carries from Chris Glover and Nick Green took Claverdon over the line only to be held up. Scrum 5m out, the ball was once agin shipped through the back and Kirby found himself in the corner, only to be deemed held up. One final scrum saw a ball fed from the back to Johnson on a short line. A quick switch of play allowed Barton to send Kirby over the line unopposed for the flanker turned winger to score his second. 17-29
The Lions travel to Old Yardleians on Saturday for their first encounter following a postponement before Christmas.
Report by James Barton
