Cotham Park RFC The closest Rugby club to Clifton in Bristol

We knew it couldn’t last, the British weather finally changed and our run of tropical rugby Saturdays was over. Still, with two great league victories under our belts we drove through the apocalyptic weather to a wind swept Cotham Park with confidence in our hearts. The last game at Tredworth had taken its toll and there were several walking wounded struggling late fitness tests. For those unaware of a Cotham Park fitness test, it involves somebody telling me they’re injured and me disagreeing. Dom was being held together by more tape than usual and sadly Jack had not recovered from his disgraceful concussion last week. Probably more worrying on the injury front was the affliction suffered by our colossus Ginna. Having swept away all front rows that have dared grace his path this season he finally met his match, time stood still as he was felled by a gust of wind! Said gust of wind did have the help of a door in injuring him, but never the less, the amount of tape he used to cover the minor scrape on his little finger was clearly unnecessary. This vast amount of tape combined with his new £50 body padding was clearly going to weigh him down, so as always, we feared for his mobility!

An unusual warm up, combined with the gale force winds knocked some of our pre-game confidence, but Westbury’s surprise decision to play against the elements in the first half meant that at least Stuart’s kick off had every chance of making the 10!

Straight from the off we put them on the back foot, some delicate kicks and some quick play pinned the Westbury team deep into their 22. This clearly startled our visitors, and with the wind blowing hard in their faces they were unable to clear their lines. Sadly for all of our early pressure we just couldn’t seem to cross the line; knock-ons, forward passes and failed backs moves plagued our early play. I think it was that we were so eager to score with the conditions in out favour that our play became frantic and disjointed. Some swift words settled the team and we began to play with more focus. Suddenly passes started going to hand, support lines were found and the game became all Cotham. I can’t remember the exact order of scoring but with half an hour gone we had scored 3 tries. Some strong running from the pack had seen Dom crash over for two in quick succession supported by big John Board extending his unexpectedly long arms to score on the whitewash, much to the dismay of the Westbronians. Having gone ahead so quickly we thought this would open the floodgates, but some stout defence and lapse play again from us saw the points dry up; the only addition before the half being a spinning drop goal from Stuart from all of 6 metres out. Half Time score 18-0.

Will had played his heart out in the first half and as-per-usual had got himself into a few scrapes. Apparently it was stopping running that brought home the fact that he couldn’t see anymore! This meant a bit of re-jigging was needed which saw Ginna drop back into the 2nd row with Schlong slotting into prop. We also mixed things up in the backs with Luke making way for Chilli to have a run at Scrum half and Joe Hanson slotting into full back.

We knew we hadn’t scored as many points as we should have done in the first half, so now with the wind in our faces we thought we were going to be up against it. Luckily we were mistaken. As expected the wind enabled Westbury to push us back into our half with ease; a couple of kicks over and we were camped on our 22. Some silly play slipped into our game and the penalty count began to rise, Westbury took advantage of this and started taking shots at the posts. They failed with the first but numbers two and three were slotted through easily. It should be noted that they were only in range for penalty number three after JB decided to tackle someone with his face! The referee believed JB had used his shoulder so in what looked like some kind of Victorian abusive gesture John tried to pull his own top lip over his head to show off his battle scar. The Ref saw fit to march us back 20m for this indiscretion for which John was less than apologetic. Having now got themselves on the board we expected the visitors to push on, but they didn’t. They obviously forgot that it was ridiculously windy and stopped kicking over the top, which was baffling; maybe it was the introduction of the frighteningly middle aged Joe Hanson, but I wouldn’t like to guess. This break in the pressure let us come back into the game, we worked our way back up the pitch where some quick footwork saw Pete ‘Pele’ Chillcott dribble the ball through their back line and score under the posts. Having missed a kick from bang in front in the first half Nick strolled nervously up to the posts but this time stroked the ball home safely. The game then degenerated into one of the most boring spectacles ever. There was even a passage of play where 15 minutes ticked by but the ball was only in play for 1minute!!! The scrums became a 10 minute ordeal with their front-row unable to cope and our boys becoming increasingly more frustrated. Thankfully Stuart took the initiative and when the ball finally came out he ran sideways round a collapsed scrum to score in the corner. Unsurprisingly Nick was unable to make the touchline conversion, but we’ll forgive him that. The game then petered out and to a chorus of applause from the bored backs and shoulder-sore forwards the ref called time.

Special note should go to George for his impervious line-out display, he seems unbothered by which appendage he lands on; also to Stuart for his quick thinking play and terrible hair.

Stringer

Result: 30 – 6 Win

Tries: Dom Carroll 2

John Board

Pete Chillcott
Stuart Hoare

Conv: Nick Comer

Drop Goal: Stuart Hoare