We welcomed Vandals to fortress Lockwood park. The Field of Dreams glistened under the flood lights and the evening for the most part was clear. The crowd came in their thousands but somehow the police managed the crowd control.
We were confident that tonight was to be our night. With just 25 to pick from on the night, we started with a strong side made 20 changes and finished with a stronger side. We had many of the more seasoned players returning to play for the first time this season. We had the Falcons management committee on the bench, with the exception of Irish who would start at 8. We even had a completely clueless debutant in Ed Colver. Mind you he does look like he’d had a hard paper round.
The warm up went well and the game was set to be a thriller. However, fate and often Referees can be cruel so once again we would fire into the maelstrom and pay the price that the Rugby gods demand.
The game kicked off and we started well. If it wasn’t for a couple of little handling errors, we were electric. The pressure built and their defence broke after the fifth minute. Who scored? I have absolutely no idea. However, the game continued like this. We applied great pressure asserting dominance all over the park. The points came in thick and fast and the game became a bit of a rout. The subs came on and improved the game. Everyone was smiling, well everyone apart from myself. Gav Rhodes grimace even broke to a playful smile like a professional ten pin bowler after he’d had a couple of tectonic tackles. Zak ‘The Rocket’ Bendich also conducted himself well with some lovely breaks. The half backs were excellent. Luke Hindle scored his first try for the club, well done mate. Ben Royds ran the lineout well. Our front row only managed to cripple three of their props in the scrum. Sadly Ed Colver, the debutant, didn’t live up to expectations. Instead he scored a hat trick on his debut and looked solid in all aspects of the game.
All in all the game went extraordinary well and a fantastic victory across the board. Followed by victories by both the Falcons and the 1’s. Special thank you to all the lads that played twice this weekend. It takes a certain temperament to be a true player and these lads clearly have it in spades. Only surpassed by their ever climbing years of service.
I caught up with Ed Colver in the bar. He said he was old, broken and had had a fantastic evening. It turns out he’d played a bit as a lad in the Newcastle Falcons Academy, an odd game in the premiership, represented the British Army and now was hoping to hit the pinnacle of his very promising career with the A-Team!
Roll on next week. So when the A-Team and Falcons inevitably win, it has a knock on effect and the 1’s win as well. It turns out my phenomenal first team winning record still has an impact on the 1’s when I’m not even playing! All the best lads.
