Sat 11 Dec 2021
This weekend Pavs welcomed a quickly improving Burton RFC to Burntstump in the latest round of The Midlands Premier competition. The rather dismal, damp and depressing weather conditions prior to kick off belied the wonderful 12 try festive feast of rugby that both teams were about to offer to the gathered throngs at The Stump.
Both teams were busy from the kick off with honours even in the early moments. Pavs kicked into the corner from a penalty, secured the lineout, and moved the ball into the backs for wing Will Taylor to cut a fine line through the centre before diving in adjacent to the posts. George Billam added the extras to give Pavs a 7-0 lead after six minutes. As Pavs have discovered, in this league, it is often the case that a small error in handling or decision making can lead very quickly to the opposition taking the advantage and scoring. This was evidenced as Pavs conceded two tries from errors on the seventeenth and twentieth minutes to go 7-14 down. The home side then went level on twenty two minutes when the irrepressible Will Taylor again outpaced the defence to score, and bring the score to 14-14. Burton then dominated the next fifteen minutes, scoring two more tries in the process to take, what looked like a commanding lead at 14-28. Pavs were desperate to redress the balance before the break. Following strong forward play, Ollie Collingham and Jonty Green moved the ball speedily through the hands to give Will Taylor the opportunity to score his third and hat trick try before the break. With Billam adding the extras Pavs narrowed the gap to 21-28 at half time.
At the start of the second half, it was clear that Pavs would have to score early to get themselves fully into the game. From a kick through, Will “three try” Taylor outpaced the Burton defence to again touch down and score his fourth and narrow the score to 26-28. Pavs gained in confidence and very much got on to front foot. No prizes for guessing what happened next!! Yep that man Will Taylor went in for his fifth try and in so doing put Pavs into the lead at 31-28 on sixty minutes. Burton then used a badly directed kick to move the ball swiftly before scoring and going back in the lead at 31-33 on sixty five minutes. As if things could not get better for the Taylor family centre Jack Taylor calmly dummied his way through the Burton line to put Pavs back in the lead at 38-33 with nine minutes left. Nerves became frayed on both touchlines as time ticked past. With a couple of minutes to go Will Taylor rounded up a wonderful performance with his sixth and final try to give Pavs the win at 45-33.
This was a superb game of rugby that afforded fabulous entertainment for supporters of both clubs. Whilst the immediate focus will deservedly remain on six try Will Taylor and the splendid show he put on, it is more than true that whole squad put a real shift in. The pack were immense throughout and to a man also deserve much of the credit for the win. Set piece was as accurate as ever whilst first up defence was formidable. The young back line continues to grow in confidence and look more of a threat week on week.
Next weekend Pavs travel to Dudley Kingswinford for the final game before the Christmas festivities. Away games are always difficult in this league, but Pavs will travel with renewed confidence following this weekend’s impressive performance.
Nigel Youl
Team Manager
