Sun 16 Oct 2022, 12:00
After a cancellation early in the week from Corsairs we re-arranged a game with Ilkeston but knowing that we could be a bit short of forwards. As it turned out we were a forward missing but Ilkeston had some to spare so during the game lent us different players at various times. When Lawson went off after a very good debut, we had 2 Ilkeston lads in our pack, including at times their captain Josh and also one of their “big lads” Gav. A huge thanks to the Ilkeston players and coaches for this great sportsmanship which led to a very entertaining game.
Ilkeston put us under lots of pressure at the start with quick defence and lots of tackles that pushed us back and caused us to panic in possession. When we panicked we threw away the ball putting ourselves under more pressure or giving up the ball. But when we calmed ourselves down, started communicating and reset the ball like we have been practising, our game started to flow much better.
Our first try came from some flowing rugby out to the right with a number of players making great passes, offloads and catches that eventually put Isaac away on the wing to score in the corner. A classic French team would have been proud of the try and I was claiming that it was a move we’d been working on for weeks (it wasn’t at all).
Our rucks today were much better than last week with far less penalties conceded and better quicker ball being produced for our scrum half. Jacob (Elijah’s brother who helps with our mid-week training) said afterwards how good it was to see things we’d worked showing improvement in matches. The increased ball speed definitely helped and our second try was scored by Ayden after quick attacking play.
Ilkeston matched us with tries during the contest and it was neck and neck all the way through as both teams pushed for the victory. A couple of stand out moments were: Ayden running with the ball in one hand and throwing a Fijian style dummy (so much for players and coaches wanting him to run with 2 hand on the ball), and then a perfectly timed interception from Josh which gave him a clear long run to score under the posts. This led to the only successful kick of the game.
Despite a very good defensive line putting the Ilkeston backs under lots of pressure (and leading to Josh’s try), they started running the balls with their big forward players and we struggled to deal with this because of our poor tackling. We still haven’t worked out that big strong lads keep running if you jump on their backs. This led to them making lots of ground and scoring tries to get them into the lead with only a few minutes to go.
More quick ruck ball led to another chance for Josh who was stopped just before the line and we were awarded a penalty from the ruck that formed. From this we got the ball out to Fin who was able to go over for our fourth try. The final whistle came very soon after. The scoreline showed Pavs were in the lead in another 2 point game, but this was such a close, entertaining game, and because we’d borrowed players too, it was definitely a win for the sport. 35 lads had enthralled the watching spectators and enjoyed a great game of rugby. Ilkeston’s POTM was awarded to Josh and Paviors was awarded to Fin, but there were lots of good performances.
The victory from a coaching side was that we’d seen some very good performances from a lot of players. Lawson playing his first game, some playing in new positions, most of the forwards playing a full game and lads using some of the skills we’ve worked on recently in training. A good Sunday lunchtime for everyone involved.
