BOURNVILLE 2'S VICTORIOUS IN DK DOUBLE HEADER

After the disaster of the first fixture being cancelled at very late notice, this Saturday came the return game against Dudley Kingswinford, at home, with the victors to take double points.

The day had extremely windy conditions, and with the slope of the home pitch to contend with, it was the obvious choice for Bournville to opt down hill in the 1st half with the wind behind them. This enabled the majority of the 1st half to be played camped in the DK 22.

Bournville started strongly with the forwards driving towards the line, and the backs having a couple of great breaks in the centre of the park. Some well worked lineouts, with Addis continuing to hit the target of Pete Nancarrow jumping at 2 to set up a good base to work from for the backs. Jonny Richards and Rob Adams taking short ball and cutting some nice lines through the DK centre field.

After continued pressure, and a few disrupted chances near the DK line, it was inevitable that the pressure would eventually lead to points. A line out on the left hand side of the field close to the DK 22 was won by Bournville and a forward drive took us to within 5 metres of the line. Quick ball from Virgo and Jacobs enabled El Mintos to take a flat pass and slip through a slim gap to touch down in the right hand corner. Converted by Jacobs.

Some more passages of play later, the ball was slotted back into the DK 22 from a penalty to set up for another Bournville driving maul. Ball won at 2nd jumper of Nancarrow and presented back to the pack for the drive. Homer tucked the ball under his arm and steamrolled over the remaining 3 or 4 defenders to score in the left corner of the pitch.

The third try came soon after, just before the stroke of half time. A lineout was won on the half way line and a sniping run from John Virgo found him dart through a gap and find himself in a 3 on 1 situation. Drawing the last line of defence in the form of the DK fullback, he shot a slick bullet pass to Nancarrow who sprinted to the line to score the first of his 2 tries.

Half Time score 17 - 0

The second half was always going to be the harder of the two, with possession being key to coming away with the victory and preventing DK from getting any points. Bournville stepped up their defensive lines and some crunching tackles from Judo and Holmes ensured that we maintained some good territory and stayed away from the Bournville red zone.
A small shuffle in the half backs with Virgo moving to flanker and Pascal coming in off the wing to his preferred position of scrum half gave Bournville another option in both attack and Defence.

Virgo found himself with ball in hand several times and running the direct route down the centre of the DK forwards. Considering the conditions there was some great passages of play, with interlinking between backs and forwards to maintain the possession and territory. The back three were tested more this half with some high balls, but this proved no bother for Harry Rice who collected the ball with ease and ran us back up the pitch and into attacking territory.

With the final try came the best passage of play of the game. Slick hands from the backs put Mintos into space, but was tackled short of the halfway line. Then quick ball shifted through the forwards hands who found themselves forming a back line, and stretched across to the other wing of Tom Clements who broke free and a short off load to Pete Nancarrow who shrugged off the last remaining defender to sprint and score under the posts. Converted by Jacobs.

A late change at Scrum Half brought Burhan Torgut on for the remaining 10 minutes. A welcome return after a long time out due to injury. 

The remainder of the game was spent defending the lead that Bournville had gained, and ensuring that DK were to leave Metchley Park with nothing to show for their efforts. Extremely strong defence from all 15 players showed the part of Bournville’s game that had become a strong point of recent weeks and something that a lot of work had gone into achieving.

Final Score 24 – 0 (Double Header meaning Bournville gain 8 winning points and finish the weekend at the top of the Reserve League)

Scorers:
Pete Nancarrow x 2, Alex McCall, Simon Homer.

Team: Jason Allen, Jon Addis, Richard Cobb, Evan Byrne, Simon Homer, Mike Holmes, Tom Clements, Pete Nancarrow, John Virgo, Paul Jacobs, Pascal Relf, Jonny Richards, Rob Adams, Alex McCall, Harry Rice
Subs: Pete Willetts (on for Cobb 30), Burham Torgut (on for Clements 70).

Match Report by Paul Jacobs