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SWF Vets 5 Ongar Vets 0 22/12/07
South Woodham Vets made their way to Ongar for the
second game of their mini season, the game had been arranged for this
date to enable the old boys to make room for the upcoming Christmas
lunch and as a pre Christmas get together. Unfortunately due to the
obvious wealth of the qualified players many were unavailable due to
holidays and shopping duties, this meant that the bare 15 players
arrived, walking sticks aiding their long walk from the car park to the
changing rooms and flat caps keeping their bald patches warm from the
Braintree game last month in addition a nice pair of comfy old mans
slippers and a bus pass for travelling were required
After a warm up that mainly consisted of who was going
to play where and which one of the 3 fat tens would start a quick
snifter off port was taken on board. Most worrying was the three fat
tens discussing 3 x 25 minutes adding up to 80. Due to Woodham Vets
being short in the front row (well very short) Ongar kindly agreed to
uncontested scrums much to the relief of Mr. Jones and Mr. Godfrey (if
you are reading this these are not made up names from dads army but real
just living Woodham players). The ethos of running everything until you
can run no more was in place straight away but Ongar’s defence stood up
well which was how the game continued. In turn the Woodham defence
handled the threat of Kevin Spray the ex SWF player and his team mates
brilliantly with all making tackles wherever required. One memorable
tackle from Mr. P. Spink brought memories of yesteryear flooding back.
The only other events of note in the 1st half were Mr. Gittos
confusing the Spink brothers by passing in between them and blaming
everybody else of course and some nifty footwork by Mr. Brown and Mr.
Collins as they practiced therefore party dancing. The score at half
time was 0-0 (that will bring the crowds back)
The second half got under way in a similar fashion
until a voice from the sidelines said I am here shall I get changed it
was to the surprise of all Mr. Brewer (a prop at last). With tackles the
nature of the game until 10 minutes into the half and following a long
kick from the driver of Mr. J. Spink the Woodham forwards burst (well
walked through) an Ongar line out Mr. Jones gathered the ball and
accelerated slowly past the on looking defence to score a fine try. The
conversion was missed by Mr. J. Spink giving Woodham a 5-0 lead. This
seemed to spur Ongar and their large crowd into high spirits and Ongar
dominated the game mainly due to the fact that Mr. Parry decided that
with only one prop we should have contested scrums (almost the senior
moment) as Woodham toiled away their defence stood firm and with John
and Mark (Mr. Pamphillion’s guests) making the odd break a possibility
of a 2nd try could not be overlooked. With just under 10
minutes to go Mr. Gittos was involved in bit of good old fashioned fist
cuffs (the Ongar prop hitting him and him making no attempt to hit him
back as he held his face with both hands in case it fell off) amazingly
the referee managed to see both players commit offences and yellow
carded them both (all agreed this was not a good example to set the
younger members of the club) but it was amusing to see Mr. Gittos do the
walk of shame. With less than 1 minute remaining Mr. P. Spiuk chased a
kick back in defence and caught a crab (found a hamstring at last) and
had to leave the field, many would say it was his own fault for kicking
the ball to the opposition. The resulting penalty was to be the last
move of the game and was once again defended well by the Woodham
players. Woodham therefore maintained their unbeaten start to the
season.
The fun then began with the usual level of banter dished out a bit of a
sing song and following Mr. Collins man of the match and Mr. Gittos
senior moment of the match. Woodham made their way home where Mr. Parry
produced his delicate blend of homemade pickled onions and chilli vodka.
Back at home an inspection was carried out as to the days attire with
many found to be poorly dressed and paying the usual price.
A
big thank you to all that made the effort to be there at a difficult
time of year and we look forward to our next game at home to Runwell
Wyverns on the 12th January 08
The squad; Mr. Parry, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Godfrey, Mr. Jones, Mr. Mark, Mr
Bright, Mr. Burrells, Mr P Spink, Mr Witzer, Mr. Gittos, Mr. J Spink,
Mr. Brown, Mr, Pamphillion,, Mr English, Mr Collins, and Mr. John
SWF Vets 17 Braintree Vets 17 17/11/07
South Woodham Vets made their way to Braintree for
their first game of the season, the game had been arranged in the hope
that the ground would be as soft as their bellies but lack of rain means
hard pitches (it used to rain more than this is in my day). The 19
players arrived, walking sticks aiding their long walk from the car park
to the changing rooms and flat caps keeping their bald patches warm.
After an intense warm up including a port and the odd
stretch or two the game began. The Woodham Vets ethos of running
everything until you can run no more was in place straight away with
some encouraging breaks from Mr. Cairns, Mr. English and Mr Braddock. It
was unfortunate though that Woodham could not get the ball to their
flyer Mr. Collins. The pattern of the game continued with Woodham
attacking from the solid base given by the powerful scrum led by their
youngest member Mr. Higgs who gave Tesco a lesson in boxing as well as
scrimmaging. Mid way through the first half Woodham gained reward for
their hard work with fast second phase ball giving scrum half Mr.
Jiggins the opportunity to feed the backs at speed with Mr. Cairns
crashing over to make it 5-0, the conversion was taken by Mr. Jiggins
who decided it would be better to play for a bounce over the bar as it
rolled. Braintree was on the back foot but with Woodham throwing the
ball around as much as their shoulders would let them the opportunities
for breaks came. By half time Braintree had taken the chances offered to
them very well and scored two unconverted tries of their own. This gave
them a 10-5 lead, as they got there breath back Woodham reflected on
what might have been and Mr. Dukelow now playing at scrum half rightly
suggested that a tighter game may be more appropriate (or words to that
effect)
The second half got under way in a similar fashion the
Woodham forwards dominating and Mr. Marshall excelling in the line out
from the accurate throwing of Mr. Harman. With Woodham pressurising the
Braintree line a series of penalties were coming Woodhams way, from one
of these Mr. Bright crashed the ball up near the line which enabled the
ball to be fed quickly to now centre Mr. Jiggins who scored a fine try.
Now 10-10 Woodham pressed on and with another promising attack looked to
be going ahead only for the ball to be spilled and the Braintree winger
who looked far to fast to be a Vet ran almost the full length to score
under the posts the conversion successful Woodham now trailed 17-10.
With a few minutes remaining Woodham skipper Mr. Witzer decided a repeat
of the earlier penalty move was a good idea but forgot to tell everybody
else what was going on, the ball hit him in the back and amid the
laughter which put Braintree off (oh that was the move) Woodham
recovered the ball and attacked again. Desperate defending from
Braintree looked to be good enough to be keep Woodahm at bay but quick
ball from the back of a ruck fed to the flying Mr Collins who crashed
over under the posts. This left Mr. Dukelow with a nerve racking
conversion which like him did not look pretty but got its leg over for
an entertaining draw 17-17 being the end result.
A
bit more port to warm down and many laughs about the game followed, a
great way to start the Vets season, a fair result, great hosts (thank
you Braintree) left all the players and spectators (CARERS) looking
forward to the rest of the Vets season.
The squad; Mr. Parry, Mr. Harman, Mr. Higgs, Mr. Brewer, Mr. Mullins,
Mr. Jones, Mr. Marshall, Mr Bright, Mr. Gardiner, Mr. Whatling, Mr
Witzer, Mr. Jiggins, Mr. Dukelow, Mr, Pamphillion, Mr. Cairns, Mr
English, Mr Collins, Mr. Braddock and Mr. Warren.
Vets Tournament at Maldon Sunday 22nd April
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