Aston Old Edwardians IIs 31 Birmingham Exiles IIs 19

Feeling very delicate after over-indulging at Mankit's Chines Banquet, your roving reporter was not up to roving, and rolled up at the club at 2.55 yesterday - only to be greeted with what he thought was a general knowledge question "Do you know any referees ?" Reeling off a list of Nigel Owens, Wayne Barnes, JP Doyle, Andre Watson and the guy who ran off the pitch after getting a decision wrong in the World Cup, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself and thought I may get through the afternoon after all. "No, have Aston got any refs we can call on for the game this afternoon ?" "Well, it depends how loose your definition of a referee is - there's Jigger, John Silverwood, Dave Roberts....". "We've tried all of them - Ray Brown will have to do it"

And so, with a hastily arranged game not being able to command a N Mids appointment, Ray took over the whistle for the afternoon - and performed admirably - keeping control of what was a most enjoyable match.

Aston started well, and scored the opening try from an excellent catch and drive - Jason Morris finding his jumper from a 10 metre line-out, and then getting to the back of the rolling maul to trundle over in the corner. The second score came10 minutes later, when Andy Coveney, who had a fine game at Number 8, picked up from a scrum 30 yards out, drew the first defender and fed his scrum-half Jake Gould, who in turn dummied outside, cut back against the tide, and scored close to the posts.

Aston were well on top and it was no surprise when they scored their 3rd try of the half when after multiple phases, Tom Burnett off-loaded after another strong drive by Coveney, and Craig Williams was forced over the line under the posts. Jake Gould added the extras to take Aston into a commanding 17-0 lead.

However, Aston switched off for 10 minutes, allowing Exiles to score 2 quick tries, both converted to bring the score back to 17-14. The Aston lead was extended just before half-time when Neil ?, making his debut, scored from close range after excellent foraging work by flanker Chris Lunt. This typified the flanker's contribution to the game, being at the heart of all of Aston's best moves, and constantly thwarting Exiles attacks.

The second-half was much more even, with the scrum being reduced to uncontested as Exiles lost a prop. Aston were under severe pressure at times, and only resolute covering and tackling, allied with some nous from senior players Neil Wilson and Kevin Whitehouse kept Exiles at bay for much of the period. However, with 10 minutes remaining, Exiles eventually scored in the corner to reduce the arrears to 24-19. Aston responded almost immediately when full back Will Stephens scored a fine try, using his pace and sidestep to evade the defence and touch down under posts. Gould added the conversion to take the final score to 31-19