PAPA JOHN’S COMMUNITY CUP
COUNTIES 2 SOUTH SHIELD - ROUND 2

With the seemingly unstoppable Adam Fitzgerald leading the way with a handful of tries, Vigo cruised into the last 8 of this end of the season Competition with a convincing win over Cheltenham Saracens.
Vigo were soon into their stride, probably taking advantage of Saracens trying to run off the three hour coach journey from their home in the Cotswolds. Vigo had conceded an early penalty which the visitors kicked towards touch, but failed to do so, their touch kicking rather woeful all afternoon. The kick found Oliver McSweeney-Atkins, who loves nothing better than attacking from the deep. He stormed forward, his team in close proximity. Cheltenham coughed up the penalty, but instead of kicking to touch, Vigo tapped and explored the narrow side, where the ball found Ben Moorhouse who bulldozed over.
Encouraged, Vigo surged forward, a superb run by Elliot Stickings halted when he was too quick for support from the Villagers, but Cheltenham fell foul of the referee at the breakdown and gave away another penalty, which Tony Whitehead kicked into the corner. Vigo won the line out, moved the ball wide to debutant Luke Stringer, who popped out a superb pass to Adam Fitzgerald on the wing. On his day, it needs a bazooka to stop the big winger, which Cheltenham had obviously left off the Fun Bus, so Fitzgerald simply blasted over. Whitehead added the conversion.
This ignited a fire in Cheltenham, and a bit of a donnybrook broke out as they objected to something Vigo had done. They won a penalty which, this time, they safely booted into touch. Winning the line out, Saracens drove hard at Vigo, setting up a siege on Vigo’s line. Swirling and swarming, Saracens twice went over only to be held up by Vigo’s defence. The defence came at a cost, however, a couple of penalties, and a yellow card for tough tackling James Clemmence. Saracens took full advantage of their numerical superiority, the highly combative Kieran White driving over for a try. Cheltenham might be viewed as a genteel town, but there is not a lot of genteelity in the Saracens pack, tough and durable, they gave Vigo a thorough examination. As did veteran left winger Chris ‘the Snowman’ Botham who featured in a couple of Sarries’ attacks, sitting down Liam Wiltshire much to the delight of the small but vocal band of Saracens’ faithful.
Saracens continued to press, setting up a handful of close drives but Vigo held on, not without some difficulty, but their tackling was good, and when Clemmence returned to the fray, they gradually raised the siege . Then it was the visitors’ turn to lose a man , Ed Moran inadvisedly telling the referee, Andy Bishop, that he may have made an error. Mr. Bishop, a schoolteacher, obviously disagreed with this hypothesis and sent Mr. Moran to the Naughty Boys’ Corner. Vigo made full use of their numerical superiority and scored a brace of tries. Harry pattison had made a coupleof typical jinking runs and attracted some attention before releasing the ball to McSweeney-Atkins who dinked a grubber kick through for Fitzgerald to chase and win the race for his second. Sarries’ captain cried to his troops ‘’C’mon, lads, look at them, they’re knackered’’. ‘’ Yes’’, came the reply from one of his beleaguered troops, ‘’ but so are we’’. Within a few minutes, Fitzgerald was over again after a move which could not be considered aesthetically pleasing, the ball flung around rather haphazardly, but nevertheless eventually reaching Fitzgerald, who completed a first half hat trick, Whitehead adding the extras.
With a 24-5 lead in the bag, Vigo trotted off for their half time Haribos, whilst Cheltenham remained on the pitch, obviously trying to get used to the thin air up here on the High Veldt. Either that, or the haribos, but Vigo came out for the second half in full beasty mode. Stickings attacked, Saracens funnelled back, won the ball but again failed to find anything close to touch, instead just feeding McSweeney-Atkins who drove forward before releasing Fitzgerald who duly thundered over for his fourth try. Whitehead converted. That woke up Cheltenham and they rumbled back, the White twins and number 8, Connor McDaid, playing with furious intent. Vigo were forced into retreat and were soon down to thirteen men, when first skipper, Jake French went off for a highish tackle, then young flanker Luke Stringer followed after a questionable tackle. Cheltenham needed no further encouragement and promptly went on the charge. Vigo were still trying to sort out their defence when Saracens tapped the ball and fed Joe Prosser who scored in the corner. I think it was Butts who converted with a superb kick from the touchline.
Again, this acted as a boost to the Saracens and Connor McGregor made a superb break through a startled Vigo defence. He was eventually brought down in the corner, but again Vigo conceded a penalty which Saracens could make little of. The game was getting a bit scrappy. Saracens seemed to want to make it into a slugfest with their rumbustious forwards obviously up for it, Vigo trying to move the ball away quickly but some inaccurate passing prevented any further inroads into the visitors’ defence. Ben Howe and Nathan Covill came off the bench, and were soon in the action, Howe making a great charge into the heart of the Saracens’ pack as Vigo started to pick up the pace. Another mighty collision saw Keane Mazowiec yellow carded – unluckily in my view. The young winger had had a terrific game, tackling far above his weight, and that gave Vigo another opportunity to exploit the imbalance. Fitzgerald made a superb break of 40 metres as he went for his fifth, and only excellent cover defence by Saracens prevented this, but Vigo kept coming, Stringer this time making a good run. But Saracens were being pulled all around the pitch now as Vigo raised the pace. Inevitably, Fitzgerald crossed for his fifth, finishing off a move instigated by Pattison. ‘’Blimey,’’ opined one of the visiting players’’ he’s got the pace of a winger, the physicality of a flanker and the body of a prop’’. Bit unkind but quite accurate, I fear.
Saracens were now done,but their fantastic spirit urged their battered bodies on. Phil Sewell became the fifth yellow as he did something nefarious in the murky depths of a maul. I feel that perhaps Clintons might be interested in sponsoring the Villagers next year, the amount of cards seen today. Then with time running out, Liam Wiltshire hit a quite superb line to bust through. Again brilliant cover from the visitors – Mazowiec again – stopped Wiltshire but he had the presence of mind to pop the ball up to Stickings who galloped over for a well deserved try.
Game set and match, but full credit to Saracens who after a difficult season, had made the long journey up, gave it their all and celebrated with Vigo- although they did lose just about every drinking game ! tremendous spirit, proper rugby club.

Scorers: Vigo: tries: Moorhouse (3’), Fitzgerald (5’, 35’,40’, 41’, 72’) Stickings (80’). Cons: Whitehead (3). Saracens: Tries: K.White (16’), Prosser (50’) . Cons: Butts (1)
Vigo team: O.McSweeney-Atkins (rep: P.Checksfield 47’); A.Fitzgerald, T.Whitehead, J.Clemmence, E.Stickings; H.Pattison, P.Norton (rep: N.Covill (61’); W.James, D.Norton, P.Sewell; J.French (capt.), L.Wiltshire (rep: B.Howe (61’); D.Mickelkburgh (rep: L.Wiltshire 68’), L.Stringer; B.Moorhouse .

Referee: Andy Bishop (Kent)

Man of the Match: The obvious choice – Adam Fitzgerald, a persistent threat and five tries. Elliot Stickings and Luke Stringer were also excellent. For Saracens, Connor McDaid was outstanding,just pipping Kean Mazowiec.

Jim O’Shea (Saracens asst. coach): I was proud of the effort put in by the team. Although we showed patches of good play, we were beaten by the better team on the day. I was happy withy the commitment of the team at the maul and ruck, but as soon as the ball went wide we couldn’t seem to find an answer. Good luck to Vigo in the next round.

Jake French (Vigo Captain) Good result, and great to see the lads play with a smile on their faces after a long and hard season. We are looking forward to the next round.

MOG’s View. Respect to Saracens. They made the effort to come all this way and accepted their defeat with great grace. They are a proper rugby club, and we all wish them well next season. The passion of their supporters and the ability of the players is not in doubt.