Aston Old Edwardians 21 - 52 Edwardians

This was a highly entertaining game by recent standards and Aston registered their highest score for a very long time. The final tally suggests that Aston were never really in the game but this is far from true. A collapse in the ten minutes before half time led to Aston's deficit growing from five points to 26.

Aston played down the slope and were firmly into Edwardians' territory for some time before the visitors made a sally uphill and capitalised on a mistake on the 22, grabbing a try in the left hand corner. Aston's response was immediate as they set up a ruck on the 22. Man of the Match, Rob Smith, broke away and made ground before getting his pass away to Nick Whiteman who thundered over between the posts for Matthieu Garcia to convert, giving Aston the lead. This was probably Matthieu's last game for Aston before he returns to France so we thank him and wish him well for his future. Edwardians put paid to Aston's lead with a converted try when their scrum half found space close to a ruck and they followed up with another interception try which left the score at 7-17. Aston had plenty of territory throughout this half thanks to a strong scrum and all the forwards deserve credit but they were vulnerable to the long range counter, as always. An outrageous offside by Edwardians at a ruck Aston were winning, led to a fly hack and a converted try at the other end and the half concluded with a runaway try for the visitors after a quickly taken tap penalty. At the break the score was 7 -31 and this was not a fair reflection of the first forty minutes.

The second period began with Aston pressure but Edwardians notched two more tries, the second creating a huge overlap and cut back which deserved success. Aston gobbled up the slope and got a lineout inside their opponents' 22. A powerful drive took them to within a couple of metres of their target and Nick Whiteman peeled off the side to go over for his second of the day, leaving Matthieu Garcia to add the two points. Aston continued to exert pressure but it was Edwardians next on the sheet with a well made, converted try on the right. Aston's pressure paid dividends near the end as Edwardians tried an ambitious pass which was pounced on by debutant Arron Finnegan and he was able to easily finish for Matthieu Garcia to knock over his third conversion.

All in all, this was a much better display from Aston with something approaching parity up front and a combative show from all the backs. Ian Lyons had easily his best game for the club at scrum half and Tom Nener and Carl Stephenson tackled well throughout with Freddie Brittain always in the game. The other first team debutant was Kamran Chaudhry on the wing who improved in confidence as the match went on.