The Battle of Wellington

The Welly army arrived in good time, their warm-up was slick and professional and the pre-game chat pointed to one thing…….they were ready to avenge their narrow loss to us earlier in season.

Wellington had completely blown us away the previous year and so our performance at their place in late October had surprised both teams for different reasons. This recent history added extra spice to this contest and it was anyone’s guess as to how this morning of rugby would pan out. As it happens the first half was absolutely one way traffic with the Clevedon boys genuinely being in charge of the ball for less the 5 minutes. As it happens this was a complete blessing having asked the boys to concentrate on a more organised defence it was the perfect opportunity to put recent poor tackling performances behind us and try to produce a more galvanised approach – and it worked. Although our defence was vastly improved on recent times it has to be said Wellington spurned a number of gilt edged opportunities to increase the try tally. Time after time they were guilty of not taking the right options, taking the ball into contact when overlaps were very apparent and calling. And so thankfully after being completely outplayed for 25mins we turned around at half time with only a 17-point deficit.

As the second half kicked off it was obvious the Wellington players had taken their foot off the gas sensing an easy day out and a job already done. However, a bit of ball retention saw the Clevedon boys start to get into their rhythm and starting to enjoy playing a bit of rugby. The boot was now well and truly on the other foot as Wellington struggled to get any sort of retention and with Clevedon’s confidence growing by the minute it was no surprise that eventually the sustained pressure culminated in a converted try for Macenzzie.

10 mins to go ……. game on.

The Blue and Gold army started to believe there was an opportunity of a comeback and more fluid and unselfish play saw Wellington having to rally to keep them at bay. Eventually the lads strung together some serious pressure and a fantastic set of hands saw Chaz in open ground 15yds out. It seemed to take an eternity for him amble the distance and eventually ground the ball, but he did, to the whoops of his team and support! Conversion successful we were now only 3 points adrift with 3 mins to play. The tantalising last few minutes saw Clevedon push on once more but Wellington were determined to hold on and fought to keep the victory they actually deserved.

And so an odd but nevertheless thrilling mornings rugby ended with Welly taking the honours 14-17. Ironically Clevedon had a couple of chances to snatch the spoils at the death but instead of looking to spread to the man in space “white line fever” took over as individuals opted for contact rather than trusting their teammates.

THE GOOD – massively improved defensive effort and great character to drag yourselves back into the game.

THE BAD – Not switching on prior to kick off opting to mess around instead.

THE UGLY – The very small minority of players constantly harassing the referee with pathetic arguments and mournful “premier league” style “hard done to” face aches! I thought we were past this – The Ref is RIGHT…..get on with it or alternatively go and find a game that allows you to behave like a spoilt little schoolgirl and disrespect honest people that give up their free time on a Sunday to ensure you get a game!

Finally, and on that note, thanks to Taz for stepping in to referee at the last minute and earning every single drop of the pint I bought him!!!!!