Brods Colts All Stars Tournament

Originally today Old Brods under 17s were due to play Thorne, but both teams have suffered with injuries and players being unavailable, particularly in the second half of the season. Certainly the Old Brods team have also had recent games cancelled meaning that we hadn’t played a competitive game in over a month and our last season as a junior team was in danger of just fizzling out. Proceedings for a 4 team tournament were put together within a week and we need to thank Thornensians, Wath and Alwinians for travelling to Woodhead and not just taking part but playing a part in some very entertaining, open rugby, played in a great spirit which was a joy to watch.

Old Brodleians 19 Thornensians 0
Thorne started with loads of spirit, knocking our runners about around the fringes of the breakdowns and putting us under early pressure with super quick line speed. There were jinking runs from both Callum and Claude Greengrass, drives from Swiff and Matty and tackles from Ben in the Centre and Will around the breakdowns. An early penalty 25 metres out was taken quickly by Harry, handled by Callum and Ben finding Charlie G on a neat cut back angle and with a determined twist and turn, he showed strength to make the line. There was some concerted Thorne pressure on our line but the ball was ripped or spilled. Ed retrieved the ball behind our try line and decided to go on a ‘what the heck’ run up the hill making 30 metres before finding the speedy Greengrass in support. He got his Heartbeating, almost outpacing the cover, being stopped by a fine cover tackle.

After the break a series of close drives enabled Swiff to poach and score, before Matty did the same thing from an almost identical series of plays. Callum brought home the Bacon to finish things with a nice touchline conversion.

Old Brodleians 31 Wath 14
Previous games this season between the sides ended in a draw and a loss for the Brods team. From the start, Midge took an excellent towering kick off under pressure and wriggled free to make ground. Charlie G, back at Centre after spending the season covering in the Second Row, showed more strength in a powerful break down the middle. Tom drove and also made good rampaging ground. Harry was now starting to get quick recycled ball through Scrum Half and Callum moved this to the left for Loz to race in down the left. It’s great to see him finding some finishing prowess.

Ed went close but Wath marched ominously up the field, there were tackles from James F and some how we turned over their possession just when we looked like we could concede, don’t know who did it, but Will and Swiff were both close by with fingers in the pie. Callum took the initiative and hoofed the ball down field and the chase was on. We managed to reclaim possession which led to a popular score from Midge, his first of the season. The other James H, back from work duties at Wellholme Caff, took the restart well and found the lively Bacon streaking down the short side. After 3 side steps, 4 jinks, 2 players thrown the wrong way by rapid eye movement and another by hypnosis, he’d gone passed the last man to score a fine individual try.

Second half brought some good early tackling from Will and Ben on larger opponents, a towering high ball taken well by Greengrass, the same from Hooker Jackson who took it on the run and also kept it in play with a neat inside pass, great skills to keep the ball alive. We managed two further scores, one from Callum and a strong run up the right from Ed to seal the win.

Old Brodleians 22 Alwinians 12
The final game brought two unbeaten teams together for a shoot out. Midge again took the towering kick off and after recycling, a flat pass found Greengrass entering the line at pace. He looked like he’d run into a car crusher with no space and opponents closing in from every angle, but a fleet footed jink, step, possibly a Quick Step and a Cha-Cha-Cha, he found space and raced in under the sticks from 60 metres. Pressure started to mount from our opponents, Ed and Will again, making tackles and Bacon with some cool clearance kicks to get us out of the hot frying pan. Aldwinians crossed, but we hit back almost straight away from an attacking scrum. Harry broke right and offloaded out of the tackle to Ed taking a flat pass between 2 opponents for a lovely improvised score. Half time 12-5 and a nail biting second half to come with us facing in to the slope.

Second half and lots more action, the offloading game we practice started to show itself more and there was a lovely passage of play involving Swiff, Ben, Harry, Cal, George and Charlie G almost resulting in a try. Aldwinians rampaged back at us and Prop Charlie S found himself as the last line of defence, but was successful in making a last ditch tackle on half way preventing a certain score …. Saving them is as important as scoring them! However the game was soon levelled. More positive flowing play and offloading took us up the slope and a nice pass found Jackson in the seam and he Thrillered the home crowd with a 5 yard finish. From the restart we went looking for more and found it through Gillgrass (formally known as Claude Greengrass) racing up the right.

What a fabulous morning / afternoon of rugby, 3 really entertaining games where all players played their part fully and earned their just reward. In the Clubhouse afterwards, Prop Charlie S, wanted to put his guns to the test in an arm wrestle. I let him win the first but weakened him a little bit before sending in fellow coach and ex Halifax Vandals Prop, Swiff Senior to level it. With Charlie now looking worried and complaining of a sore shoulder I seized my chance and went in to finish the job with a 3 second ‘powerburst’. Out thought and out muscled by the coaching team Charlie has gone away, tail between legs to rethink his gym sessions!

That’s all folks.

Old Brodleians RUFC

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