Narrow defeat for Old Leamingtonians is feisty affair at Old Coventrians - The Leamington Observer

Narrow defeat for Old Leamingtonians is feisty affair at Old Coventrians

Leamington Editorial 25th Apr, 2017   0

RUGBY UNION: OLD Leamingtonians slipped to a narrow 14-10 defeat away at Old Coventrians in the Midlands 3 West (South) in a match that was ruined by petulant refereeing and a plethora of yellow cards.

On a beautiful spring afternoon at Tile Hill Lane, two evenly matched teams went to battle in a match that produced seven yellow cards, which meant for the majority of the match neither side had a full squad on the field.

For the opening ten minutes OLs were camped in the home team’s half but were unable to penetrate the solid defence.

The first time Old Coventrians got into the visitor’s half a poor OL lineout led to a scrum and with attacking flair they put the ball out to the winger who went under the posts for a converted try.




From the kick off and Old Coventrians’ player ran into the arms of David Canning who immediately received the first yellow card for a ‘high’ tackle.

Nevertheless Old Leamingtonians attacked deep into their opponent’s territory but lost the ball and Old Coventrians launched a move from inside their own 22 which ended with their winger crossing once again for another converted try for a 14-point lead.


It was not long before an Old Coventrians scrum half was sin binned but OLs again failed to make the home side pay as a promising move was spoiled by a poor pass and a dropped ball.

With 30 minutes players OLs prop Bill Johnson was yellow carded, but the visitors’ defence held firm and just before half-time they managed to get back into Old Coventrians’ territory from where James kicked a penalty to claw three points back before the break.

The visitors looked more up for it after the break and only a last gasp determined tackle prevented winger Adam Stannard touching down in the left hand corner.

Shortly after this Old Coventrians were shown another yellow card for going over the top of the ruck but the resultant penalty attempt at goal was missed.

OLs came back again with superb incisive running from David Canning and from the ensuing melee sharp witted Brad James jinked his way over for a try and James kicked the conversion for 14-10.

Old Coventrians returned to the attack and spent ten minutes down near the OL line but the visitors held out and managed to get back upfield. During this escape Ollie Wright was binned but it did not stop the visitors bombarding the home line with phase after phase of attack and Matt Fulcher almost got through.

At a ruck just short of the line two Old Coventrian forwards committed yellow card offences, one of which was converted into a red.

Instead of a penalty, OLs opted for a five-metre scrum but on a day when nothing had gone right for the visitors, the ball was lost on the put in and the hosts escaped as the final whistle was blown.

Printing

We can provide all of your printing needs at competitive rates.

Business Directory

From plumbers, to restaurants, we can provide you with all the info you need.

Online Editions

Catch up on your local news by reading our e-editions on the Leamington Observer.

Buy Photos

Buy photos online from the Leamington Observer newspaper.