Aston Old Edwardians 5 - 50 Wednesbury

Wednesbury visited with a big bunch of forwards and the first Aston scrum told a story. Although Aston heeled the ball, the scrum crabbed backwards, which set the pattern for the afternoon. Much good work at the back of the scrum, particularly from Paul Bradley helped to mitigate the damage in this area of the game. The home team's lineout did not begin too well but gradually became respectable. The difference between the two sides lay in the size of the forwards and Wednesbury's made plenty of yards throughout. Aston's tackling was determined and, generally, pretty good until late in the game when they began to suffer from charges made by the Wednesbury twelve and they also all switched off at a penalty close to their line, allowing a hefty forward to canter in untouched. These problems hid some truth about the game, however, and that was the fact that this was Aston's best all round display of the season and their performance, though lacking momentarily in concentration, lacked nothing in effort. Tom Thomas was the best tackler on the park.

Aston played down the slope and had an early shot at goal but missed. Wednesbury opened their account with a converted try after several rucks which enabled one of their backs to go in off a short pass. Poor kicking-off put Aston immediately under pressure with a scrum on half way but they recovered to drive down to the Wednesbury line where they pressed the visitors for some time before the ball was turned over and cleared. Aston lost the ball again near half way and this let the Wednesbury backs off the leash to create a strong field position ten metres out. Aston were penalised and Wednesbury worked their tap well to cross and convert. A short while later they lost a man to a red card but scored a third try before the break after a quick tap from a free kick. This was under the posts and the conversion was a formality, leaving Aston with a twenty one point deficit, a number which did not do the home side justice.

Wednesbury, now down the slope, exerted early pressure and kicked a penalty before adding another try when the big centre rampaged half the length of the pitch, amid too many high tackle attempts by the home side. Julius Hunt got a well-deserved yellow card whilst Darren Morris took to the field still wearing his woolly hat. Aston were next to disturb the scorer when, through pressure on the Wednesbury backs, they were forced into an error which allowed Jordan Young to pick up and gallop in from forty metres. He enjoyed this as he was enjoying his best game for the club; an all-round exhibition of skill, effort and focus. Superb! Nick Whiteman, who had tackled well all afternoon, was presented with a yellow card after a dump tackle, which many thought to be somewhat harsh and his absence was telling. Wednesbury went on to score three more tries before the end and this was the period when Aston switched off their brains from time to time. Nevertheless, this was still their best outing and much credit should be enjoyed on the back of it.