Colts A v Abberley Hall

The Colts made the long trip up to Abberley on Saturday. Some of them appeared to have left their heads on the bus for the first twenty minutes. Some solid tackling and a moment of individual excellence meant that they salvaged a draw and that Charlie Bastable maintained his record of having scored in every match (as has captain, Rory Bennett).

 

The Colts started lethargically, conceding penalties for indiscretions that have not appeared before. All the work on defence and scrumming done during the week seemed to have been forgotten and our backs lost shape and our pack was pushed backwards. Abberley got the first score.

 

When Bilton finally secured some safe ball they put together their first positive move, with Rory breaking through to score. Lesson learned, one would have thought, but Bilton did not manage that again.

 

Abberley piled on the pressure again and Bilton failed to clear their lines; eventually another fumble, which was a major concern thoughout, resulted in Abberley pouncing on a loose ball to score again.

 

In the second half, the handling remained poor, and Abberley continued to pressurize. A scrum on our line resulted in us merely dotting down to give them the put in, but in a rare heal against the head, Bilton secured the ball and Charlie set off for what seemed a hopeless run.

 

Hopeless turned into remarkable as he beat three then ran the length of the field to score. It was one of those games where you felt he would probably drop it when he got there, or that Josh Harris might miss the conversion to tie, but both did what they needed to and Bilton managed a share of the spoils.


Tags: Prep, Sport