Old Culverhaysians 43 - 57 Gordano II

After despatching Imperial at home last week and with Keith Leakers words on lets talk about attack defence is boring. Gordano did just that attack, attack, attack but did not defend at all. Which led for thrilling encounter and 100 points as a combined score this match had everything but defence.

After late arrivals, a lack of preparation and poor warm up. Gordano found themselves in the first ten minutes on the back foot as the Old Culverhaysians pack combined with slow ball at the break downs and pick and drives around the fringes, Gordano took note of this early but failed to defend this well with too many high or missed tackles allowing Old Culverhaysians to get over the game line on most occasions. After Ben Clark cleared Gordano's lines, Old Culverhaysians returned the ball back only to land to Daniel McCallum who caught and ran back at Old Culverhaysians to score his first try in his first start for Gordano II's. Old Culverhaysians would have felt hard done by after the start they had made to get hit by a sucker punch. Shortly after another Old Culverhaysians attack turned into another Gordano score with Gordano's flying Irish man Gav Dungan running and weaving almost the entire length of the pitch to score Gordano's second try with Nick Moore adding the extras. Gordano were reminded that this was not going to be easy when Old Culverhaysians scored. After a bit of a stalemate in the middle of the park with Old Culverhaysians running everything with slow pick and go drives after being punished by the Gordano back line when they kicked anything, it took a quick attack down one flank which sucked in the Old Culverhaysians pack and quick ball the other way allowed Phil Hodder to exploit the space created and score. Old Culverhaysians came back after missed tackles to score again and Gordano fell into a lull as they allowed Old Culverhaysians to score again and be in close contention. After a quick change in personnel on came Neal Foster who immediately made an impact on the wing and ran a good 35 meters to score on his debut for the II's

Half Time Old Culverhaysians 21- 29 Gordano II

After a team talk and a wake up call on needing to post rucks and tackle around the legs, Gordano still chose to tackle high and allow Old Culverhaysians to get over the game line time and time again. Eventually after some sustained pressure, Old Culverhaysians gave a penalty which Ben Clark kicked to touch from the resulting lineout Gordano perfected a quick catch and drive with Andre Bailey directing the maul and went over the line to score. Gordano then applied more pressure and Gav Dungan cut a fantastic line to go through un opposed and score his sixth try for the II's this season. Old Culverhaysians hit back with another score of their own, and both teams soon ended up with 14 players on the pitch as Andrew Coles and Old Culverhaysians tight head prop received yellow cards for handbags after a scrum. Nino Toto then wondered off to support the centres after receiving the ball then decided to be extremely greedy and ran just outside the 22 with Tom Harris and Mike Dyer screaming in support, which should have been the chosen option but the skipper decided not to share. The remaining ten minutes consisted of both teams attacking well but defending woefully as the Old Culverhaysians prop who was sent off for ten minutes made amends with a storming run to score and bring Old Culverhaysians into contention. Gordano carried on attacking and Phil Hodder went on to score again with a quick burst of speed and strength went through Old Culverhaysians back line to score with Nick Moore adding the extras. With three minutes remaining Old Culverhaysians were gifted a try which had it been converted would have brought Old Culverhaysians behind by 7 fortunately the conversion was missed. Knowing that the game was now out of reach for Old Culverhaysians, Gordano continued to attack and another run from Neal Foster seen him stopped short of the line and as a foot came over the ruck to flick the ball forward Nino Toto was quick to gather and touch down for an easy score in the corner.

This was one thrilling encounter and thanks to Ben Clark who mentioned this was only our second win away this season, although defending is boring this will need to be much tighter when Keynsham 3rds come to Caswell Lane. Phil Hodder tackling and chasing were superb, Ben Clark did well at ten with his distribution and tackling, but man of the match went to Andre Bailey for how do you put this politely for a man of his age, he tackled tirelessly and got to break downs first. Lads please be prompt as preparation before games has been really poor and will be changing from now on.