Aston Old Edwardians 27 - 27 Birmingham Exiles

A most unusual game.
A game won before kick-off yet drawn by the final whistle.
An opposition that lacked a front row gifted Aston the points before the players had even got changed led to mixed feelings in the home dressing room. We all wanted to play a full game in every sense of the word and no prop ever wants to play a game with uncontested scrums. However, when the solution is to give up that hard won shirt and become a member of the opposition? Well it’s easier said than done.
There was in no sense an uncharitable feeling in that dressing room; more one of wanting to play for Aston and the side that has been steadily building week on week.
Had I been asked to play for the Exiles I’d have likely said no too and I’m pleased that all the boys played on the same side together. I would have liked a scrum or two though.

From the kick-off the awkward winter sun made itself known, poking through the sparse and moving cloud just in time to blind me to the ball dropping three feet from me. Thankfully PB snaffled the ball on the ground and saved my blushes.
The game had started with frenetic pace and the ball passed in and out of possession and almost every blade of grass was covered in the first five minutes.
An early Aston penalty was slotted by Tom Dartnell, showing this week at fullback, and playing in probably his most assured game in the senior sides.
An early over commitment at the ruck saw a three man overlap which Pete Carroll did his best to cover but inevitably our on the pitch captain can’t be in three places at once and Exiles ran in an early score.
We fought back with a series of phases and continual possession marching up the pitch. The front five hit all the rucks leaving the back row to carry ball. Bones and Kev Whitehouse hit everything that moved in an Exiles shirt and kept their loose forwards honest in the breakdown, giving their own tutorials on the laws of the game. Karl Denneny became adept with the ball in hand and started to look like Dean Richards by the end of the half. Any more confidence with the ball in hand and we’ll have another Longhair in prospect.
Rob Smith was back in at flank after his barnstorming debut and he proved again to be bellicose with the ball in hand and used his low centre of gravity to slip through and often under tackling and grabbing arms.
He popped up in his trademark swerving running style with a few spins thrown in and dotted the ball over the line. He only had two players hanging off him this week, down from the four at Yardley and District.
Tom Dartnell stepped up with all the calm of Dan Carter and put over the conversion.

Then came a period of offsides and remonstrations with the referee for the Exiles and their flanker found the bin. A few other breakdown offences that may have occurred were policed by our own old heads and we were seriously on the offensive.
Rich Bevan ran a masterclass at 10. He linked almost telepathically with Micky Watts at 9 and always had the correct option. His boot found touch perfectly and he always got the ball through hands when it was on and smashed into contact like a man who’s just turned 20 not 40. His endeavours rightly earned him the Man of the Match though this might be the first he’s heard of it. Anyone who saw his conversion bounce just before the Exiles wing and fly over the poor boys head into touch can vouch for the fact he deserves it.

Tom Dartnell had a rare lapse in concentration and almost conceded a try after we narrowly scored one. However his 70 metre looping run and last gasp tackle stopped their sure try scorer and his resulting jackling gave us a penalty and much needed breather from the frenetic pace.

There were no scrums certainly, but this was a young fast side from Exiles and Aston matched their pace and action with plenty of their own. I don’t think I’ve played in a game this fast paced for a good long while.
Our pressure told and Tom stepped up and slotted a penalty to put Aston 13-7 up.
The scrums, whilst not being properly contested, were well played by Aston who ensured their opposite number stayed bound until the correct time, just in case the ref didn’t catch any players looking to leave early. I’m sure he’d have been pleased of the assistance in a game unfolding this quickly.
Aston had been buoyed by the return of two wingers called Mark. McInerney was back from a month out and provided a solid tackling display with astute positioning and organisation and Almond shook away the cobwebs and stardust from Tinseltown and put in his usual tough running and aggressive display.

The second half started with the same pace and power from both teams but with a few changes for fresh legs. Growler wasn’t used in the scrum as much as he’d have liked but he put himself about in the loose with all the abandon of a man who’d had three weeks rest, not less than one.
Joe Carrol had popped back again to make sure we don’t miss him too much and was a much needed boost of pace and matched and excelled some of the younger legs in the Exiles side.

Their legs should have started to tell against a side with the age of the Aston one and they did put on three tries without answer, two of them converted.
To call into question the officials that offer their time so willingly and without which the game could not happen is churlish at best. I am to be at least churlish then when I say that a catalogue of almost every sort of offence occurred before the first Exiles try of the half and the second was not much better.
The third was pure training ground. A steal at the lineout by the barest of millimetres was followed by very quick hands and they ran in a try out wide on the Aston right flank. A brilliant try that seemed to land about five seconds after the ball flew into the lineout.

We would have been forgiven for rolling over and giving in there and then, and I’ll be forgiven for saying that this very side would not have come back into this game a few weeks ago.

Well, as Exiles found we are not the same side that started this season. There will be more than a few sides that find the same thing.
Pete Carroll took the game by the scruff of the neck and carried the ball like a trimmed down Tullow Tank and smashed into the Exiles line as if there were a sea of shiny things behind it.

Mickey called a mixture of green and red carries and Aston tested the Exiles with short lines from Bones, Whitehouse, Denneny and Carroll. When called upon Bevan brought out the backs and had a superfluous offload in the tackle to keep the ball rolling and the play continued and brought the irrepressible Paul “PB” Bradley the try his game had richly deserved. Some of the senior players in this Aston side have secrets that Nivea or Red Bull would kill for because they are playing like men half their ages and we have more than we should be allowed in one side. Kev Whitehouse, Jason Morris, Micky Watts, Rich Bevan and Paul Bradley all were outstanding and were led admirably by our on pitch captain Pete Carroll.
His try exemplified what is becoming this teams calling card. A series of brutally hard carries was finished off with a barnstorming run by Pete and this time he smashed through the gain line and crossed the line to a huge roar from team mates and the Aston faithful on the side line.

25-27 to Exiles. Last kick of the game conversion to draw the game. Who else would we call upon but Tom Dartnell?
Did he score it?
Of course he did.
Sunnybank erupted and it was as if we’d won the league, let alone drawn a game we’d already won on paper.
So we only drew a game that we very nearly lost and should have won. You could see it that way. The true way to view that game was that we outran and out rucked a side that turned up specifically to outrun and out ruck us. Not only that but we had the steel to reach into the dark pit of a certain defeat and pull out a win. We had to make do with the draw but it felt far more of a win than some of even our better victories.

Thank you to each and every one of my team mates this week. I was proud to be on the pitch with you and almost prouder to watch that manic last ten minutes.
Roll on next week.