Aston Old Edwardians 7 - 85 Handsworth

High flying Handsworth were the visitors for this League match and they got off to a speedy start with four early tries. Damage was done by some hard running forwards and they also had some pace in the backs which Aston found hard to deal with. Aston, for their part, tried to run the ball along the backs but were unable to make much headway against some tough tackling and covering. The visitors scored another long-range try against the slope before Aston began to assert themselves, creating a good position on the opposition 22. They won a penalty and had a shot at goal only for the ball to shave the upright on the wrong side. Aston sustained their pressure for a while but Handsworth mounted two powerful surges which gave them a line out five metres out. They won a penalty which was quickly taken and got their just reward. Their kicker, skilled in his art, did the honours. They got two further tries before the break and were fifty points up at this point and, with the slope in their favour in the second period, things did not look well for Aston, whose failure to mark tightly when the ball was in space had cost them a lot of points.

The second half, however, was very much a different story although Handsworth scored again after five minutes. Aston produced a purple patch of their own up the slope and, with Andy Coveney and Tony Parry together in the front row began to make life difficult for the visitors in the scrum. They continued to do this for some time and had a significant territorial advantage. The ball retention improved in the loose and the tackling was surer in the forward exchanges. Tom Thomas went to scrum half and was a threat from the base of the ruck while Ian Lyons seemed at home on the wing. A powerful break from Tom Thomas almost saw him over the line but the cover caught him and he was able to get his pass away to the supporting Julius Hunt and Matthieu Garcia put the icing on the cake for Aston. The jubilation of the crowd was immense at the first League try of the season, rather more than when England won the World Cup! It remained all Aston for some while with better continuity and an improved lineout with Ethan Channer taking some good ball but, as always, Aston were vulnerable to the long range counter attack. They lost three further tries before the end but it was Aston who, through Ethan Channer and Julius Hunt on the charge, finished the game with their tails up close to the Handsworth line.

Credit to Nick Whiteman and Tom Nener who led the side well and who both got through their share of the tackling and Tom Thomas who made his mark in a positive way. There were parts of this game which were really strong for Aston but they must identify the powerful and the speedy players on the other side and deal with them before they can get going. It takes ten minutes to find out who they are and there are no excuses for allowing them room to operate as they choose.