Cotham Park RFC The closest Rugby club to Clifton in Bristol

Cotham Prove their Bounce-Back-Ability at Thornbury

After a disappointing display by England in the earlier world cup game, the world of rugby turned its
attention to Thornbury where Cotham Park were under no illusions of the task they faced ahead. As
players we duly avoided the match entrance fee, although the stewards did take some convincing
when Mr Coles and Mr Day tried to get to the changing rooms without paying. It was a tough
selection process this week and James Sutherland was brimming with pride when he was handed the
number 4 shirt. We were all shocked to learn that that was not his usual position.

We won the toss and decided to kick off, everyone had been told the importance of a good strong
start to the game and this was applied in bucketloads right from the first whistle. Greg Wilson was
constantly stealing the ball in the rucks and Marcus Wooldridge was driving through the opposition
like a man possessed. Debutant Daniele Saccardi had a solid game on the flank and also helped to
lower the average age down to less than 40.

The game was tight and there did not seem to be an obvious means of breaking down the opposing
defence. However, that was until open side Dave Wells (the finest winger that Cotham Park has
ever produced) slipped through the parting defence to score under the posts. Judging by his
commanding performance at flanker, he may well find himself playing there more often. Thankfully,
the score was under the posts, so Jimmy Cook managed to slot the 50/50 conversion through the
uprights. Game on.

Jimmy was at a loss as to why there was so much back chatting and consternation amongst the
players regarding the refereeing decisions. Apparently new rules were being enforced for this game
and it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with the lawmakers. The line out was working
well and John Bostock, Tony O’Regan and Kerry Brimblecombe were more than holding their own
in the scrums. Ashley Baddy and Nick Harland were making some decent runs and were strong in
defence, with full back Ben Higham completing the stellar back three.

Mike Bryant was blending his pace and decision making well at fly half and the centre partnership of
Johnny Kiwi and Silas Benson were creating holes in the oppositions back line. We maintained the
lead until half time and it was then that the opposition decided to change tactics and start putting
the ball up their jumpers (not really up their jumpers as they were wearing rugby shirts but you
get the gist) and aided by some marginal decisions they drove a brace of trys over the line from
short range. Things were getting pretty feisty with Marcus being particularly lucky not to receive
his marching orders over some potential head contact with a Thornbury player. A late penalty was
conceded by Thornbury and Cotham closed the gap to 2 points with 6 minutes to go.

At this point, an inspired substitution saw Cotham Park stalwart Simon Coles enter the fray,
alongside debutant Levi Roots and Andy’s Mate Dave. Taking up the position of fly half from a ruck,
Simon received the ball and did what we can only describe as a ‘dummy’ and totally outfoxed the
advancing opposition. Johnny Kiwi then showed his experience by creating the overlap and sprinted
to the try line with Thornbury players clutching thin air. It is hard to put forward a try of a season
this early into our campaign but Simon will be dreaming about this for a long time to come.

A narrow lead was being defended excellently by the Cotham Park forwards and the backs defence
was superb. With 2 minutes to go Cotham had camped themselves in Thornburys half and were
aiming to count down the time until the final whistle. That was until Jimmy Cook saw an opening
and decided that as this was a league game, we should go for more points. A delicately weighted
kick was intentionally aimed close to the touch line, in order to fool the Thornbury players into
thinking that it was going straight out, but no, that wasn’t to be and a hint of back spin popped the
ball up to the ever present Ben Higham and he raced for the line to score under the posts. This
capped a sublime performance by Cotham and must surely be the start of a winning streak.

Now to the bar. Thornbury are great hosts and provided some hot food after the game. The
catering staff asked if we were the opposing team and upon a positive response gave us tickets to
get our meals. It was only when the suited and booted first team opposition from Brixham Rugby
Club turned up in the bar that the staff realised their mistake. The last portion had been dished out
to Andrew Day and he was thankful to the staff for the effort they had gone to in setting up a table
for us, a sheepish lady confided that they had made a bit of a mistake but it was of course too late to
rectify. Brixham were treated to various bar snacks including peanuts and cheese and onion crisps
and Cotham Park left with their bellies satisfied. Being last to leave, Simon Coles confirmed to a
Brixham Player that the food was indeed ‘nice’ and recommended they go to Gordano services to
get some hot food on their way home.

Captain Jimmy Cook said after the game “It’s difficult to nominate a man of the match as everyone
put in outstanding performances today. I will have to sleep on it, unless I receive a bribe before I
leave. It’s also great to get that first win under our belts. As for dick of the day, look no further than
the dinner lady.”

Team
1. John Bostock
2. Tony O’Regan
3. Kerry Brimblecombe
4. James Hightower Sutherland
5. Greg Wilson
6. Daniele Saccardi
7. David Winger Wells
8. Marcus Wooldridge

9. Jimmy Cook
10. Mike Bryant
11. Ashley Baddy
12. Johnny Kiwi Booth
13. Silas Benson
14. Nick Kiwi Harland
15. Ben Higham
16. Simon Coles
17. Andrew Day
18. Levi Roots
19. Andys Mate Dave