Paviors RFC

Last weekend Pavs travelled to table topping South Yorkshire club Dronfield RfC in round 10 of the Midlands Regional 2 competition. Pavs gave a debut to another former academy player in Ethan Boulter, gave youngster Cole Mangham his first start at full back and brought another youngster,- Jack Stanford on to the bench.

Conditions on the day were just as horrendous as they have been for the last couple of Saturdays, resulting in a pitch that was just about playable. Pavs chose to play up the slope for the first half. Pavs fielded the ball from the kick off, but were penalised at the ensuing ruck. Dronfield kicked the penalty to go 3-0 up with barely a minute on the clock. Pavs battled away for the next twenty five minutes and could have scored themselves on a couple of occasions. Unfortunately, as Pavs tired and Dronfield began to make better use of the slope and scored three well taken tries in the final fifteen minutes of the half to give them a 20-0 lead at the break.

After the break Connor Tomlinson gave Archie Hall a break on the front row as Pavs pushed forward. On forty eight minutes Phil Eggleshaw was sent to the bin for a bit over enthusiasm! On fifty two minutes Dronfield drew further ahead to 25-0. Moments later Ed Marshall was forced off due to a knee injury and was replaced by Leo Tang on the wing. Unfortunately, fly half George Billam was then invited to take ten following what looked like a genuine attempt to intercept a Dronfield pass. Pavs continued to battle away as the game entered the last quarter. Archie Hall resumed as Tom Ryan came off with seventy minutes on the clock, to be followed by Jack Stanford in the stead of Jonty Green at scrum half with five minutes left. Final score 25-0 to Dronfield.

Despite the result, this felt like a coming of age moment for Pavs. They fronted up for the whole eighty minutes with both physicality and temerity and refused to be rolled over by the home side. Most certainly a second half in which they conceded one score with just fourteen players for twenty minutes was as brave as it was committed.  They will to take this on as they welcome Belgrave RFC to The Stump this coming Saturday 6th December 2.15 kick off for a crucial fixture.

Squad-

1.Tom Ryan

2.Ben Beeley 

3.Archie Hall

4.Joe Crossland

5.Ethan Boulter 

6.Owen Taylor

7.Matt Molyneux

8.Phil Eggleshaw 

9.Jonty Green

10.George Billam

11.Ed Marshall

12.Doug Billam (C)

13.Dan Stokes

14.Fin Moran

15.Cole Mangham

16.Jack Stanford

17.Leo Tang

18.Connor Tomlinson 

Back of The Match -Cole Mangham

Forward of The Match - Matt Molyneux 

Youngster of The Match - Fin Moran