Embarrassing afternoon for Five Ways

Five Ways went into Saturday’s fixture on the back of three very good weeks. A strong performance against Stoke old boys started the road to recovery with a losing bonus point in a game spoken about as 'the one that got away'. FWOE then recorded two excellent wins against Warwickians and Atherstone. Both performances that showed how the Five Ways team can play with heart and skill, which brought the team together as a unit.

FWOE took to the road to play local rivals Claverdon with confidence high and a near full squad to select from. The feeling within the camp was confident although Claverdon would most certainly be a step up in quality of opposition. Five Ways were determined to get something from the fixture and give a good account of themselves. However from the moment the team arrived, in person only, it was clear that something was not right. With the warm up over, Five Ways retired to the changing room for final preparations. Senior player and ex club captain Alex Nock hit the nail on the head when, after the game, he described the changing room as “a completely different place to last week”. The mood appeared flat and FWOE worst fears were confirmed when they took the pitch and conceded the first try within five minutes of kick off. The try was simple but well executed when the forwards drove into the heart of the Five Ways defence, making ground on each drive as the line speed struggled to win the battle for the gain line. Tackles were missed before the ball was spun wide and an overlap was gladly accepted by the Claverdon winger as they sauntered to the first score. This was a sign of things to come as FWOE did not play hard, or for the shirt. The players let themselves down when the second try was scored very quickly and, in similar fashion, with Claverdon making ground on every run and drive. The battle for the gain line was lost without a fight and when they switched direction from a centre field ruck, the blindside FWOE winger was powerless to stop a five man overlap. This trend continued for the first half with no players emerging with any credit and the scoreboard already above thirty points to nil. The game was lost and a heated half time team talk took place with many shell shocked and unhappy faces. The second half had to be better and it was. Slightly.

In the second half, Five Ways upped their game and managed to restore some level of pride and parity. The battle for the gain line became fierce as the defensive line moved up with a greater level of speed. The desire to tackle and jackle the ball made a difference in the battle for possession. The game became locked in the middle of the park and FWOE began to make some opportunities with Jess Banner breaking through the heart of the Clav defence before an offload was unfortunately spilled by centre partner Robin Hadley. With the passion restored, the forwards secured some good ball before the backs moved it wide to winger James Mounter who was excellently covered by Claverdons impressive full back. Although Five Ways were unable to score any points, Claverdons game became rattled with the increased physicality, finely demonstrated by Nathan Penn sitting down their South Sea Centre in a barnstorming run. Claverdon won the second half with two tries scored as FWOE began to chase the game. When the full time whistle went the scoreboard made for an unhappy sight as it read 48 – 0. Fly half John Mounter missed a last second penalty to try and prevent a zero on the scoreboard.

At full time some harsh and honest words were said. They will stay within the team but higher standards have been set and are expected in the weeks to come. Nathan Penn emerged with some credit from the game and continues to bring a physical edge to Five Ways. The Claverdon No. 7 and captain was an example of how to get over the ball and he played extremely well. Something which FWOE struggled to deal with.

Five Ways hope, and aim, to bounce back in coming few weeks in some very important fixtures ahead.

Thanks to Captain John Mounter for this weeks match report. After reflecting on the Claverdon game he said "I make no apologies about this report. There was a part of me that wanted to ignore the issue and not write a report after a very bad day at the office, however, if we are willing to pat ourselves on the back and accept the beer when we win, we need to accept criticism when we play extremely poorly. I don’t mind losing (I do hate it), however, I do not accept mentally not turning up. I include myself in the team criticism and I know we are better than we showed on Saturday. We have to discover a way to dog, we can’t just have an A game one week, when everything goes well and everyone plays brilliantly, and then an E game the next when we are not only poor, but we don’t even look interested. We need to create a B and C game and we need to fight. At the moment we are sadly a team of extremes, either really good or really poor. Too many times we have been on the end of a beating with only one losing bonus point recorded so far. Even in games that we lose, we need to make closer results, picking up more losing bonus points if we are defeated. If anyone would like to discuss what is written here, I don’t mind so please feel free to approach me. I will be at the club on Tuesday, training to put things right."