OH,

Hope you've all had a strong start to your week. For those who toured on the weekend, I imagine it was a slightly slower start than normal (...or perhaps not).

Regardless of the sore heads from Saturday night (or from 15 minutes into the game for myself), what a fantastic few days that was! 22 Old Haileyburians heading into Midlands territory for 2 nights. What could go wrong?

Arriving by train or car, the majority of the party dropped their luggage off in Worcester Travelodge on Friday evening, ready for Matchday Eve shenanigans. Whilst the general rule of thumb reads:

"a beer" = 3 beers
"a couple beers" = 8 beers
"a few beers" = Waking up in the hotel bed hugging an empty box of chicken nuggets 10 minutes before the bus is due to leave...

....it was safe to say we strolled confidently into option 3. Nothing like a bit of live music and some beers to get you prepared for a tough test the following day.

Saturday morning fast approached and the coach picked us up from Elgar Statue by Worcester Cathedral at 10:30am. With Connor Stevens insisting on ordering his full English at 10:25am from the cafe across the road, like others with last minute food orders on the way, we had these boxed up and ready for the coach ride over. With the food down and luckily staying down across the board, we counted this as the first success of the day before Stourbridge Rugby Club welcomed us with open arms at 11:30am.

A slow warm up to shake off the journey and sweat out what we could from the night before in time for kick off at 1pm, the team captains exchanged shields at 12:55pm and we came together as two teams for a minutes' applause for the sad, recent loss of a clubman and friend to Stourbridge RFC, John Devine.

OHRFC Starting XV
George JEAVONS-FELLOWS (c)
Josh STERNE
Max DEWING
Felix CRYER
Jack SWINGLER
Tim BRADLEY
Harry CLESHAM
Benji AIRDRIE
Anthony CATT
Ollie MANN
Sean DAVIES
Matt RICHARDSON
Ollie BUCK
Matt WILLIAMSON
Connor STEVENS
Finishers
Benjamin LAWRENCE
Calum RONALD
Jamie ASHTON
Sam TETLOW
Alf JEAVONS-FELLOWS
Non-Playing Tourists
Zac JEAVONS-FELLOWS
Eamon ROSS
With OH lined up and ready to kick off, Bucky put the ball into the heavens and the boys put instant pressure on Stourbridge, looking to make a fast start to the game. Stour managed to hit back with their attack and the tug of war quickly commenced between two quite evenly matched sides. Unfortunately, I had to take myself off the field following a knock to the head 15 minutes in, deciding the head wasn't quite sore enough from the night before... but continued to watch OH from the sidelines keeping their foot on the gas with forwards winning up front and backs making some good breaks in the midfield. The deadlock finally broke with Harry Clesham first on the score sheet in this pre-season fixture following a forwards move making the score 0-5 to OH.

Whilst Stourbridge ended up finding some space on the wing after some continued pressure in the middle, the scores were soon level at 5 a piece. Enter Matt Williamson, who just hours before had help from Catty and Clesh (plus some friendly local police) to shift his deadweight body over a fence on the side of the road, searching for a clearer and safer path back to the hotel from the night out... we were back ahead 10 points to 5.

The lead was then extended in comedic fashion, following another strong forwards play by OH and the man trundling over in the corner being our replacement prop, kindly lent to us by SRFC. This may have been his only try in 6 seasons, albeit for the wrong team and at the cost of writing his name in pen on their Dick of the Day award, but it was definitely worth it.

Leading the way into the second half by 15 points to 5, OH had their work cut out as Stourbridge slowly worked their way back into the game. Forcing a few errors as the pressure began to build, Stour capitalised with 2 tries in quick concession to bring the scores back level (15-15) with 5 minutes to go.

The last play was soon upon us and penalties were beginning to mount into our defensive half. It seemed written in the script that SRFC would come back from 2 tries down to win the game in the last play. The clock had gone past the 80-minute mark and one final penalty was awarded to Stour in front of the posts. It's still unknown why they didn't end the game right there and then with a kick. Perhaps it was too obvious (or because there were already 6 tries scored and no conversions made across the board), but the kicker ended up thinking best and asked the forwards to do the work as we crouched down for one final scrum. Nails being bitten on the touch line and the pressure was well and truly on for us to put in once last defensive effort in our own 22. The scrum won to the attacking team and the ball shipped out to their 12... only to see the ball bounce off his chest as he approached contact and into the arms of none other than our Matt Williamson! The length of the pitch to go and no one in front of him - he wasn't getting caught!

The game finishes 15-20 and Old Haileyburians continue their unbeaten run on tour.

A huge congrats to the team for fronting up, not giving in and getting the win. It was our first time playing together since February 2020 and, especially with some new faces in the squad, we didn't look once out of place. Extremely promising for the season ahead and makes me even more excited to see it unfold.

Stourbridge were incredible hosts and the post-game festivities extended from the club to the pub and back into Worcester following a train journey full of songs and stories (hosted by MC Tim Bradley). Court was in session back in the hotel before heading out into the premium nightlife of Worcester in the form of Sin and Bushwackers. Thoroughly enjoyed by all.

I'd like to thank all involved this weekend for making this happen. The idea is to make this an annual thing between the two clubs and I'll be looking forward to hosting them back at Ruxley Lane when the time comes, possibly for some silverware next time! Thanks has been extended by their management committee over the phone to me last night, saying the game was played in fantastic spirit and they loved having us at the club.

I'm immensely proud to be part of this club and what a way to get back in the mood for the restart of rugby at OH. See you all down at training tonight (7:45pm-9pm at Battersea Park) and I'll be sending out some more info on our upcoming club dates for the 11th/18th September. Get involved in what you can as best you can!

Hearts & Wings,

Jevs

The Old Haileyburian RFC

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