The Dirty Dozen

Instead of creeping back under the duvet, Clevedon offered up twelve unsung heroes to take on an excellent Taunton side at a cold, muddy and very wet Swiss Valley. It is days like these that let us know what we are made of and congratulations must go out to players on both sides who, considering the dour conditions, put on a very positive, entertaining and worthwhile game for the “energetic” support.

I would question if ever the cliché “a game of two halves” was more appropriate. Taunton won the toss and decided to play with the slope and elements. Clevedon started very well indeed with great intention to run the ball, however slowly but surely Taunton took the ascendancy and began to show their class with some strong running and ball retention. The Clevedon boys didn’t respect the slope advantage and tried to continually tackle way too high. Much of the remainder of the half saw Clevedon bogged down defending their line, but despite their courageous efforts against the marauding Taunton runs they turned around at half time 25 – 0 down. Despite having leaked 5 trys, mainly due to poor defensive technique, we kept our heads up and the blame culture which has reared its ugly head in the past stayed away, replaced with a general positive attitude which was great to see.

Shivering wet through and wondering why they ever bothered to turn up Clevedon had the usual enlightenment from some wise old heads at half time, however on this occasion some of it actually seemed to sink in! I think they all knew they had left their tackle shoulders at home and hadn’t really followed the form of recent weeks. But with revitalised intent took to the second half with the wind at their backs and hill in their favour.

What followed were some great phases of play and some vast improvements in the tight. We started to ruck, in numbers, past the ball at long last. This gave us quality possession and enabled some penetrative individual running from deep with Taunton realising how tough it is to stop a small bulldozer running at full tilt down a ski slope!!! We crossed for 4 excellent touchdowns courtesy of a Ricardo brace, Tiny Tornado, and Bish Bosh Rudsta.

Of course the game was littered with knock on’s and dropped passes but both sides really did their parents and coaches proud today with an excellent display of rugby. At the final whistle Taunton had just held on and edged it, much to the disappointment of the Clevedon players and support. In hindsight had we tackled lower and rucked in numbers during the first half then we just may have reversed that result. So although on paper its a “W” for the visitors I can’t help but feel we kind of had a bit of a mini victory in there somewhere.

So a final thank you to Taunton for making the trip and a well done to all those involved but especially the Clevedon 12 who in the face of adversity did themselves and the badge on their shirt great credit. Unfortunately there’s no time to relax! We need to be as committed again as we travel to “The Mouth” next Sunday where, as we know, easy games and victories are a rare thing indeed.