Only 15 Clevedon boys were available/brave enough to get out of their warm pits to face a robust St Bernadettes team vying for revenge on their home turf. With four usual front row absent we turned to the team to find volunteers to deputise. Admirably Ty Munn, Harry, Finn and Mac all stepped up and helped fill the gaps when asked, nobody said no – thank-you guys. The conditions were challenging to say the least and with a very strong cold wind along with calf deep muddy puddles to contend with it really was a case of rather you than me! In all my years of playing I can honestly only recall ever winning at Hengrove once. The pitch, the environment, the support really is a “leveller”, and so having had the comfort of playing at home for the last couple of months I did wonder whether we might be due a “bad day at the office”.

We’ve had better warm ups………..the ball frequently dropped as pass after pass was inaccurate and unforgiving. To compound matters, the intricate persuasive direction from the coaching team was unconditionally dropped in favour of the entire teams 100% attention switching towards a pair of distant copulating canines!!!! What hope do we have I thought……….in reality how wrong I was to doubt them.

I really do love it when the boys rise to a challenge. This was a tough old day’s rugby and they all passed with flying colours and I reckon with some to spare. The fact they’d turned up was enough for me but the game that unravelled before me was pleasantly unexpected. Teamwork, something that we’ve been lacking but working on and is the cornerstone of all that is rugby, was very much the winner. Yes, there were definitely aspects of selfishness still on show, but I have to say it was very minor and pretty much restricted to only a couple of offenders. If we can look to build on this, we will become a very good side one day. It was awful conditions to be flinging the ball around but we did it with relative success, keeping the ball away from the Bernadettes Big Boys and constantly changing the point of attack. This was brilliant to watch and served us well. However as good as our attack was, our defence was yet again lacking. Tackling was left to the usual suspects and the intensity to “hunt” together to get the ball back was pretty much non-existent, I’m assuming left as idle chat back in the changing rooms. I shan’t bang on about this too much as it really was a very good performance, but if we want to compete with the best this is the area we need to sort out.

It’s difficult to single out praise as everyone played well and improved themselves. For me though the biggest improvements were from Tom Wills and Ty Scott. Scotty playing like a man possessed, it’s as if we’ve signed a new superstar from a different club – Well done fella, let the confidence kick in and we’ll see just how far you can take it. The Tiny Tornado had all his normal attributes on display – great tackling and fantastic penetrating runs, but what he added to his game this week was an unselfishness that will genuinely catapult him to the next level if he continues. He secured ball when needed (once his technique holding off 4 St B’s players) and fixed and passed if someone was better placed.

There is a saying: “If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got”. Basically we can go on playing week after week with the same old faces making all the tackles, the same names on the score sheet, lose to the same opposition each year blah, blah, blah. Or we do a “Tom Wills” and change for the good of the team, find and understand our individual weakness and work hard to make it a strength. If we work hard and change the way we are, how we play, what we understand, then our results, personal strengths and most importantly, our enjoyment will also change for the better. It won’t happen because time passes and we get older, it will only happen if you identify what you can work on, and have the intelligence, bravery and discipline to change it.

And as my good friend Brittany Spears once said “Oops I did it again” – I’ve managed somehow to change a quick match report into some kind of rambling life lesson…….sorry guys, well done, impressive team effort all things considered, which meant Sunday lunch and a smooth glass of red was accompanied with a very satisfying smile.

Cut and paste link below to view match.

https://youtu.be/MfgK-1hIYuU