Paviors RFC

A short trim south of the river to West Bridgford for this week’s match and we took a squad of 19 players with several players not being available due to injuries leaving us a little stretched. It meant that Lawson and Josh G both got more game time in their second appearances for us and both played well. West Bridgford seemed to have almost a full team of replacements. They have always had a very large squad.

The first half was a very tight affair. The first 15 mins was spent with Paviors in their own half having very little possession but defending resolutely and frustrating the WB attack and our defensive pressure leading to lots of knock on’s and plenty of scrums. The odd first tackles were missed or they found space around the edges but the follow up tackles were made and the WB coaches commented on how well our lads held out. They even nominated Cole, our Nr 15, as the Paviors Player of the Match for how well he tackled all day.

After a break for replacements Paviors got a bit more ball but decisions seemed to go against us, and we were often pinned back in our half again. With the half ending and no points yet scored another moment of frustration at a decision against us meant we switched off when they had a penalty only 5m out. They used our indiscipline and took a quick tap and go and because we weren’t ready they were able to squeeze over in the corner. Their kicker, who had a great day with the boot, added the 2 points to give WB a 7 point lead at half time.

After a slight switch of positions in the backs and forwards swapped around the second half continued in a similar vein although Paviors did get a bit more possession and got the ball wide a few times only to be hauled back by their strong pacey backs. WB managed to score and convert again but Paviors efforts were soon rewarded for their hard work when Nick broke through the middle to score under the posts which Owen converted.

From the re-start another decision went against us because the referee was un-sighted when Oli was taken out in the air as he jumped to catch the restart and only a scrum was awarded. West Bridgford won the ball back soon after from a ruck turnover which was an area where we lost lots of ball throughout the day. Our players were getting counter rucked off the ball because their body position was too high.

Paviors were getting stretched player wise. Harry went off with a badly twisted ankle, Cole off with a knock to the knee and Josh G having pulled something painful. (We hope you all recovery quickly). Another switch of players with Oli, usually a back row, moving into the centres for the last 10 mins and Owen on the wing playing through a dead leg left us with a slight loss of pace and organisation .

The re-shuffle, a tiring team and plenty of replacements for the opposition gave them the upper hand and they took their opportunities well to score another couple of tries towards the end of a hard game.

The Paviors lads kept their heads better this week and the talk behind the posts was far more encouraging of each other. It was a tough lesson learnt from last week and the big lesson this week was to keep their cool, accept the officials decisions whether you agree or not, and get back in position and be ready to defend.

As noted above, the WB coaches chose Cole as our POTM, and they also award a Brussel Sprout award to their players. This was won in the end by Dan, their head coach, who got so lost he tried to award it to one of their players for something one of our players had done. We didn’t award a clown of the day this week but our comedy moment may well have been for a kick that went a long way up, and backwards. No names mentioned this week for that moment, but the same player also put in a great shift with his tackling along with plenty of other players.

As our coach Dan said to the players at the end, we (coaches and parents) are all extremely proud of how they played in a very challenging match against a strong team. The score does not reflect their efforts and none of them should have their heads down.