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Droitwich 30 – Nuneaton Old Edwardians 22

Sunday, October 29, 2006

Droitwich entertained Nuneaton Old Edwardians on Saturday, who play their rugby in a league higher than the Spa side, and turned in their best performance of the season to come away with a deserved victory.

Droitwich were under pressure early on from the heavier visitors’ pack, but the defence was solid. Ross Coombes at scrum half and Duncan Hughes got the home side moving forward with some excellent clearance kicking. On a rare visit to the opposition half a good line-out take by Phil Horton saw the ball quickly moved into midfield for Ben Cottrell to carve open the defence and score the game’s first try, against the run of play it must be said.

Powerful running by the Nuneaton back row pinned Droitwich back inside their ’22, and the score was levelled when the visitors’ pack drove over for a try. The home side were under the cosh again as Nuneaton forced a line out five metres from the Droitwich line, but Paul Sweeney, who had come on for the injured Horton, produced the first of an excellent series of line-out steals to clear the danger. Hughes then put Droitwich back in the lead with a penalty.

The visitors seemed to have taken the lead going into half-time as they touched down in the corner, but Hughes had the last word with a second well struck penalty.

The second period saw Droitwich go up a gear. While in the first half Droitwich had been constantly under pressure they were now dictating the game. Having made a strong run, Simon Pearce was hauled down 10 metres short of the try-line, but his pass inside found Cottrell in support who breezed over for his second. With their tails up the Spa pack attacked the visitors’ line and Gavin Reese drove Nick Godfrey over for another try. Good running by Sean Walker and Steve Poke created space for hooker Dan Protherough to throw a long pass out to eighteen year old full-back Teddy Jones. Jones gathered the ball and scorched home for a debut try - a moment the youngster will remember for a long time.

In the final moments Droitwich took their foot off the gas and Nuneaton, to their credit, came back strongly to score two tries.

Veteran second row Jon Andrews was delighted with the performance adding “this was the best side we have come up against this campaign, and we showed the kind of rugby we can play. An excellent result all round.”

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