Cotham Park RFC The closest Rugby club to Clifton in Bristol

On the back of two promotions in the preceding seasons, Cotham Park’s push for a third successive jump to higher reaches began on Saturday with Ashley Down’s annual 15-a-side tournament.

After a pre-season of real progress, it was time for the men of Failand to dust themselves down for the type of hard-hitting, fiery skirmishes we had all been craving during the summer break...

Drawn in group containing the hosts, Ashley Down, Bishopston and Broad Plain, the squad would not be allowed to rest on their laurels. Faces painted with nerves and excitement decorated the changing room in the run up to kick-off, Ashley Down where up first.

Ashley Down Old Boys 10 - 0 Cotham Park

The cobwebs where soon blown out. A starting XV sporting no less than four debuts for summer recruits kicked off what would be a taste of the games to come. Early possession saw a sweeping backs move put Brian “Irish” McElligot into a gap, before the move eventually broke down. The pack where unable to put their stamp on the home side’s resilient forwards, and the backs, starved of possession, did not continue the early promise. However, with nerves demolished, and players fired up, the next encounter with Bishopston could not come quick enough.

Notable Moment: Jack Diaper’s massive hit on the inside centre down the right flank – twas like a clap of thunder.

Bishopston 7 - 5 Cotham Park

“The Bish” where up next, and very kindly volunteered to turn their shirts inside-out to oust any confusion that could of come from Cotham wearing their red strip (thank Christ it wasn’t the yellow one). As with Ashley Down, Bish currently hold a middle-order spot in Gloucester 1 - our new stomping ground - and so we were keen to make an impression. The game started well, good clean ball from our improving forwards led to a scything break in the middle for myself (I swear match reports this term will not turn into the Matt Ace/Dom Carroll show, unlike Stringer’s “greatest hits” from last season). Good support from the back row led to Cotham pouring into the 22, where Jack Kelly, fending off the attempted tackles from the weak defence went over for the try. We continued to control the game, coming close on the right wing when newbie Nick Vincent didn’t get a call from the usually uncontrollable Jamie “Whoop Whoop” Levon in a textbook 2-on-1 situation. That left us open to attack, and eventually a blindside break led to Bish’s score, and the subsequent conversion putting to bed our hopes of a win.

Notable Moment: Jack Kelly’s left arm of doom leaving the defender for dead.

Broad Plain 0 - 7 Cotham Park

Broad Plain had magically managed to throw together a team, and so in what we thought would be our final game of the day, we had a “must win” situation. Having not lost to Broad Plain in forever, Cotham controlled the game from start to finish. The back row completely outdoing their counterparts, and the tight 5 providing excellent ball for the backs. The team where so upbeat that Even “The Cat” Holmes couldn’t control his joy out on the left wing, doing cartwheels (yes, seriously) between plays. Cotham’s pressure and drive came to a head when a ball spun out wide and plucked out of the air by the on-rushing Alec Vincent, weaving between Broad Plain’s scramble defence, the loose forward popped one out the back door to Irish, who proceeded to spin it out to Jamie Levon to rush over for the score.

Notable Moment: Alec Vincent’s Quade Cooper-esque backdoor pass.

At this point, players, and Ken Groom in particular (already late for a stag-doo in London, tut tut) where starting to wind down, only to find that our resolute defence, and consequently, excellent points difference, had put us into the semi-final!

Semi-Final
Clevedon 17 - 0 Cotham Park

Clevedon, a team several leagues above us, had been bashing teams all day. Their large, athletic looking players leaving Andy Day and Colesy looking rather terrified on the sidelines. But a motivating rant from Marcus put the squad back in the mood in an instant. It was a great defensive performance, of real intensity. Massive hits where going in from 1 to 15, somewhat startling the Clevedon team. Excellent defensive kicking from new boy Cameron at fly half, and the forwards affecting play all over the pitch almost led to us taking the lead from a penalty. And although we conceded three tries, the general feeling amongst the squad was that we were all full and ready for the season. Even eventual tournament winners Clevedon admitting they weren’t expecting such a battle.

Notable Moment: Seeing our pack push Clevedon about the park at scrum time like they where nothing. Hell of an effort.

In truth, the results mean nothing. All the boys can be proud of the way we played throughout our four matches, building every game. The outstanding standard at training from the forwards was put to excellent use, with the backs providing control, flair and aggression in equal measures. A lot of boys put their hands up on Saturday, and it will be up to the absentees to dislodge and push for position come the start of the league season .

Well done lads. Good luck for the season.

Matt Ace