Aston Old Edwardians 26 Five Ways Old Edwardians 15

Aston, having made the deliberate choice to attack up the pitch when the toss was won to make use of the slope in the second half, started aggressively and attacked well.

The first ten minutes or so were pretty even and involved both teams attacking in the midfield. Aston won a penalty and missed touch and shortly thereafter won a second penalty and missed a kick at goal. From the resulting 22 drop out AOE conceded a poor penalty which was kicked downfield. From the lineout Five Ways used the slope and kicked into the right hand corner and when Chevel Taylor was isolated when attempting to run the ball back, a penalty was conceded in front of the posts which was converted to make it 3-0.

Aston started well again and the defence was superb. Five Ways spread the ball wide very well and for the next 15 minutes or so Aston were under real pressure and repelled a number of attacks. However when the visitors sent the ball wide and then immediately switched play and sent it wide in the other direction, Aston were caught out defensively and they conceded a try in the corner but did not convert to make the score 8-0.

Shortly before half time, |Five Ways were camped out 10 metres from the Aston line and the home side showed great defence in repelling the attack and winning a turnover. Unfortunately, at the end of the half a Five Ways player suffered a head injury which resulted in the need of an ambulance and a change of pitch.

The half time lasted for 20 odd minutes due to the injury and pitch change, and Aston were not switched on at the beginning of the half and after a very poor kick chase the opposition full-back ran 35 metres to score.

Fortunately Aston responded immediately and started attacking with real menace. Julius Hunt, Ethan Channer, Alex Higgins and Nick Whiteman all carried brilliantly and Five Ways were beginning to run out of tacklers. After a period of pressure near the line Dave Roberts jinked and created some space for Chevel Taylor and he beat his opposite number to score in the corner to bring the score back to 15-5.

That try was a deserved reward for a period of good pressure. Aston continued carrying well straight from the kick off and had wave upon wave of ball carriers running hard at Five Ways. They simply could not handle Ethan Channer and Julius Hunt. Darren Gardner made a great break and chipped the full back who touched the ball down for a 5 metre scrum. Aston’s scrum was completely dominant all day and drove the opposition back again only for Aston to knock the ball on. Whilst Five Ways cleared their lines Nick Whiteman ran the ball back at them. Daren Gardner took another great carry and from the ruck Nick Whiteman picked the ball up at the base and drove over for a converted try. 15-12.

Five Ways looked shell shocked and couldn’t get back into the game. Almost immediately from the kick off Julius Hunt made a 20 metre break. Aston took more carries inside the 22 and eventually Kris Hindley drove over for another converted try to make it 19-15.

Aston, now ahead, played for territory and Dave Roberts kicked Aston into the bottom corner. Kieran Burke chased and tackled the ball catcher who was isolated. Chevel Taylor won the turnover and Dave Roberts used the overlap and fed the ball to Emric Elmhurst who scored in the corner for a bonus point converted try to leave the final score 26-15.