Old Yardleians 14 Aston Old Edwardians Development XV 12

In difficult conditions, both sides played their part in producing an entertaining and closely fought encounter – with the home side edging home with a 2 point winning margin. Both teams included a broad mix of senior and development players, which gave Coach Brian Davies the opportunity to rest some key players and also to cast his eye over other potential 1st XV squad members.

Old Yardleians started the stronger and kicked 2 early penalties after enjoying the lion’s share of both possession and territory in the opening 15 minutes. Aston attempted to defy the difficulties caused by the heavy ground, and move the ball through the hands whenever possible, and centre Josh Walker was able to use his strength in midfield to gain ground.

After one incursion to the 22, Aston moved the ball neatly along the backline to winger Joe Williams, but good
cover defence forced him into touch 5 metres out. The same player then made a smart outside break from his own half, and kicked ahead to gain some 50 metres, but was just beaten to the touchdown by some more excellent covering by the home side.

Just before half-time, the Old Yardleians second row, who had made a nuisance of himself for the whole of the half, was sin binned for a late challenge, but Yardleians held out until half time with their 6-0 lead intact.

Aston took a more pragmatic approach at the start of the second half, and almost immediately after the restart, a good line out take by Dan Lastun was driven forwards 20 yards by the Aston pack. Having established a good platform, James Parkes then drove strongly in midfield to set up quick ruck ball, Walker again broke through the initial tackle and found Michael Olatakun on his outside who took the offload and burst over the line to score under the posts. Harry Baldock added the simple conversion to give Aston a 7-6 lead.

The Aston pack were beginning to dominate the set piece, with Parkes, who had an excellent second half, taking 4 or 5 scrums against the head, and Lastun impressing in the line out. With the match going into the 4th quarter, another strong driving maul put Aston into a promising position, and Paul Horrocks was in place to break away from the initial angle of attack to force his way over the line for the 2nd try.

Old Yardleians broke back immediately however, and a lapse in the hitherto well organised defence allowed the outside centre to break through and score just a minute later. With the conversion going wide, Aston held a narrow 12-11 advantage.

Both sides were content to put boot to ball in the final 15 minutes in the hope of forcing either a mistake or a penalty in opposition territory, and following some aerial ping-pong, it was Old Yardleians who were awarded a penalty 35 metres out, which was duly converted to give them back the lead 14-12.

Aston pressed for the elusive final score, but were denied by Old Yardleains, and it took a fine tackle from Danny Bancroft in the final moments to prevent a further score for the home side.

Both sides should be congratulated for producing such an entertaining game in the heavy conditions, with several AOE players giving Coach Brian Davies food for thought as he considers his selection options for the forthcoming league game against Tamworth.