Aretians - 3rd Nov 2018

It was an ominous start to the match, Cotham kicking off against the elements and Damo not clearing the 10m to hand Aretians a centre-field scrum from the outset. The set piece clearly favoured the visitors as their front row behemoths gained traction against our gorgeous tight five of Mike, Bambi, Kingy, Vic and Coldplay.

The fly-half fired a few kicks into the corners and soon the Aretian backs were applying pressure, which finally led to an overlap and a winger’s try out on the right-hand flank. The kicker must have used up all his good kicks in the warm-up as his attempt sailed wide.

Cotham responded in kind and sprung several assaults up-field led by breaks from Nath and Charlie, supported by Stringer and Will. Swift hands across the backs, found the overlap and George was able to sprint down the right hand edge and dive in for a quick retaliatory try. The conversion was banged through to take the lead.

This provided some momentum for Park and after some strong defensive work on their own line were able to relieve the pressure and again move up-field with intent. Good line-out work and support play made metres and after a couple of touch-finding penalties, the pace picked up and it was in some broken play when Henry the new livewire sniper popped up, took an offload and crashed through for a debut 1st team score. The conversion attempt was pushed across the face of the posts.

The game then seemed to swing back Aretians way as they shoved the scrum around and played it down in the corners. On one occasion the ever lawful Dom was penalised from picking up from the back of a messy scrum only to be told, despite being Nr 8, he was not the hindmost player. Head-scratching but on with the job. Unfortunately Aretians were able to find touch, catch and drive a line-out and barge over for a try. Again the kicker made a hash of the conversion.

Half-time 12-10 to Cotham.

The second half started well with Cotham securing the ball, looking after it and threatening to break free. The forays were snuffed out but desperation at the breakdown let the referee award Cotham a penalty in front about 25m out. Damo, conserving as much energy as possible, gave a deft touch and sent a very vegan-looking attempt over the crossbar.

The following passages of play became blurry but the five point lead was short lived as the kick-off was fumbled and Aretians seized the initiative. Cotham started to get bogged down into the type of game they were trying to avoid whilst the visitors bustled and drove their way forward and were awarded multiple penalties and advantages to improve their position. The pressure finally told as one of the Aretians loose forwards was able to crash over from the back of a dominant scrum at close range. The kicker shanked the conversion and the scores were tied.

At some point Dom was laid out with a nasty gash to the head and was assisted off the pitch, to be replaced by Dr Croctopus. Another substitution was made around the same time, with Chopper coming on for George. The legend that is Jimmy Kiwi was clearly enjoying the brand new, full-length substitute coat too much and chose to keep it on.

Cotham played good positional rugby and soon another penalty was awarded and after a short debate about line-out or penalty, the posts were pointed at and Damo was able to steer through a more meaty-looking kick for a three point advantage.

However, the lead didn’t seem enough as Aretians stepped it up a notch and started throwing everything at the home side. There was a huge defensive effort in the last twenty. Cotham were everywhere, tackling everything. Dr Croctopus maybe took it a bit too far and almost saw a yellow before admitting he was just ‘pulling his leg’ and waded back into the fray. Park struggled to exit and remained camped on their own line for an age, repelling wave after wave of attack. There were mammoth efforts from all involved, particularly the forwards and more specifically Victor, Kaydn and Charlie. Finally the staunch defence caused an Aretians handling error, giving Cotham a scrum feed. The ball shot out the back of the set piece and Connor scooped it up before launching it down to halfway. The opposition fullback countered but after a couple of phases, another big hit forced a knock-on and the final whistle blew.

Full time: 18-15 to Cotham.

At the end of an intense 80 minutes it was courageous Cotham who were triumphant by a slim margin. A tremendous victory and once again the men of Failand showed plenty of ticker, especially in the high-pressure, late stages of the game to grit their teeth, stand tall and hold on for the win.

Man of the Match: Henry de Sniper.