NERJA 24 v COLNE & NELSON 43
On Friday 5th May 2017, twenty-four past, present and future players from Colne and Nelson rugby club set of to the popular coastal resort of Nerja some 50km east of Malaga on Spain’s Costa-Del-Sol. They were going to play the local team from Nerja on the Saturday afternoon. With an early set of 2am on Friday by the time they had arrived at their 4-star accommodation it was mid-afternoon and so some the lads decided to have a rest to recuperate for the following days match. The rest of the group agreed it would be good for diplomatic relations and Brexit, to go out and sample some culture. What they found out was that Nerja boasts 16 kilometres of beaches with powdery sand and sparkling clear water. It is flanked by a dramatic mountain range, Sierra Almijara, to the east. The old quarter of the town is still virtually unchanged with narrow, winding streets, whitewashed houses with wrought iron terraces overflowing with geraniums, on which a canary can sometimes be heard singing. However, the heart of Nerja is its spectacular Balcón de Europa the "Balcony of Europe", a magnificent promenade along the edge of a towering cliff, once the site of the great Moorish castle, designed to keep out British pirates. Today it is the focal point of the town, affording magnificent views up and down the coast. Looking left and down you have Calahonda beach and neighbouring coves, followed by Burriana beach and, in the distance, the picturesque village of Maro, site of the impressive Nerja Caves.
Saturday and time for the big game, Nerja’s home pitch was being reseeded so the match was to be played 50km away in Motril. After the bus ride Colne were shown into the changing rooms, once they were changed it was time to go out to stretch off. As they walked through the tunnel and into the stadium the midday heat hit them like a furnace, the Colne players knew it was going to be a very exhausting game. The game was started by Nerja and the kick off went straight to Brad Collins. He was hit hard by several opposition players. Nerja had made their intentions clear they were not here to be pushed around. The first frenetic ten minutes saw both teams making some good piercing runs on what was a flat dry pitch suited to running rugby. With neither team kicking the ball, the handling from both teams was superb and the centre pairing of Ryan Sumner and Matty Tindall were causing havoc in Nerja’s defence. Colne’s front five off Lewis Hesketh, Lance Jones, Liam Husband, Brad Collins and Mathew Boatwright were much larger than their opposite men but credit to Nerja they were not driven backwards. The first try of the game came from a well worked back move which released Aiden Colvin down the wing. He was stopped just short, but support from back row Antony Minshul allowed quick ball to be moved back inside to standoff Kyle Hargreaves to race over for a try converted by Matty. From the restart Colne moved the ball about trying to create a gap in the Nerja line. With no gap appearing it was down to the brute force of Luke Edwards to power his way over several Nerja players and feed the ball to Lance Jones who flopped over for Colne’s second converted try. After 25 minutes the no kicking policy from Colne was now starting to seem like a bad idea as the heat and pace of the game was exhausting. So, it was time to start kicking and bring on some fresh legs with Sam Boatwright, Paul Strickland and Dean Edwards joining the game. It wasn’t long before Sam was involved as he tackled a Nerja player stole the ball and drove forward, he accidently clashed heads with an opposition player who had to leave the field with a cut forehead. The kicking from both teams was starting to make the game more open and the Nerja backs were exploiting this, their back three were very good on the counter attack and Colne had to be at their best to keep them from scoring. Colne’s back three of Adam Hartley, Gary Kenyon and Paul Strickland were also adapting well to the different conditions. The only edge Colne had was the physicality of their pack, they were starting to make ground in the rucks and mauls creating space for the backs, one such space was snatched upon by Adam Hartley and he raced away to score conversion missed. Colne had a 19 point lead but Nerja did not let that affect the way they played and from a line out they spun the ball out wide to their elusive winger who stepped inside then cut back outside and was away flying down the wing a good chase from Adam and Matty fetched him to a halt but he managed a offload to supporting number 8 who ran in for Nerja’s first try. Conversion missed but the capacity crowd had something to cheer about. With a try against them Colne moved up a gear and a typical surging run from Ryan Sumner moved Colne within ten meters off Nerja’s try line, up stepped Brad all six foot eight, eighteen stone of him, he took a pass off scrum half Aaron Denton and lept into the air certain he would dive over the line. Only to realise it was five-yard line. Colne didn’t panic and recycled the ball to start again. Good defence from Nerja forced Colne back to the twenty-two but some quick pick and drives from Lewis and Liam got Colne back within ten meters of the try line, he was there again big Brad on the charge takes the ball, same power, pace and dive. Same result, wrong line. The quick-thinking Adrian Morris picked up the ball and dived over the correct line. The missed conversion was the last act of the first half.
With a long break Colne needed to get in the shade and take on plenty of water the heat and fast pace was taking more out of Colne than Nerja as they were used to it. The general theme was to slow the game down and not try to play wide all the time.
Colne restarted the match, a good catch and run from Nerja’s second row got them on the front foot with good continuity they made their way into Colne’s half. Quick feet from Lewis, Nerja’s scrum half, created a break and their number eight hit a great line and raced away for his second try this was converted to make the score 12 – 24. Another restart and a tired chase from Colne allowed Nerja to get on the front foot again, only good defence from Colne’s back row of Antony, Adrian and Luke kept Nerja from running another try. One huge defensive effort from Luke saw him hit Nerja’s prop with such force that the prop had to leave the field with a sore shoulder. With no front row replacement, the scrums had to go unopposed, which helped both teams Nerja could win clean ball and Colne could let their front row have a rest. With a few positional changes and substitutions John Hargreaves was introduced, and he immediately went about doing what John does. With a few fresh legs on Colne got on the attack and quick hands from Gary Kenyon and Matt Boatwright released Ryan Sumner who had the fullback to beat the Nerja fullback made an excellent tackle to prevent a certain try. A mistake from the Nerja wing forward in the ruck resulted in a scrum to Colne. A controlled and powerful scrum led to a push over try dotted down by Luke Edwards. In the process of setting up the attack, Ryan was injured and had to leave the field. This meant more reshuffling with Aiden Colvin coming back on. Nerja were still playing some quality rugby and back row Enrique Lopez was making a real effort to get Nerja back in to the game. On one such occasion he turned over the ball and set up another attack, the ball went out wide to Marcos Centurion who made a clean break up the middle of the park to cross the line for a converted try. From the restart, Big Brad caught the ball again and Colne set up another attacking platform, Dean Edwards made a break and slipped a lovely pass to Matty who released Paul Strickland only for him to be bundled into touch just short of the line. Nerja won their line out and with Colne expecting a clearing kick Nerja set off running some great handling from their backs and forwards, eventually the ball ended up in their winger’s hands and he showed a clean pair of heels to Colne’s defenders and raced away to score. Nerja were now back in the game at 24-31. To make matters worse Colne lost Matty Tindall to a pulled muscle and Antony Minshul to exhaustion, Colne needed two more people, the only people left were Colne’s old water boys Nick Ralph and Jason Mcquillan so on they came. Colne were now tiring passes weren’t going to hand and tackles were being missed. With 15 minutes left Colne just had to dig in and hold on as Nerja were looking the fitter side. Nerja had most of the possession and were continuously battering away at Colne, but as they have done all season they dug in and show a great resilience not to let the opposition cross their line. A Nerja ruck on Colne’s twenty-two was turned over by John and scrum half Jason waited just long enough to catch all Nerja’s backs offside before passing to fly half Aaron, the resulting penalty was kicked into Nerja’s half. From the line out Colne’s make shift back line managed to move the ball about and a sublime pass from Dean put Adam Hartley in for his second try. This converted try gave Colne a little breathing space at 24-38. Time was now running out for Nerja and they tried to force the play and mistakes crept into their game, one such mistake allowed Kyle to steal the ball and race into the corner for his second try unconverted 24-43. Nerja knew there was only minutes left but they still pushed for another try and they would have had one but with an overlap beckoning their scrum half Lewis kick the ball and when it rolled dead the referee blew for full time. After the whistle the Colne players collapsed in a heap exhausted. The players would like to thank Nerja and Colne’s water boys for carrying on gallons of water.
For a side that has only been playing rugby for five years Nerja did not let themselves down on or off the pitch. Their hospitality on Saturday and Sunday, at the barbeque, was fantastic.
A big thank you to Matt Tindall, Chris Buck and John Hargreaves for organising an excellent Tour, one that can hopefully be reproduced in another few years.
Colne have also had a change of Management, with Matt Boatwright stepping down as Head Coach due to work commitments. Nick Ralph has been appointed Head Coach at the club. Watch out for updates of training times on Facebook and the Club Website.