Littelmore 24 Pts v Phoenix 27 Pts

Littlemore was tough to find so KO was delayed for 10 minutes while a few stragglers found their way to the ground. Of note Tony Porter barely had time to run on to the pitch for KO.

Phoenix started really strong and for 8 minutes we were camped in their half. After all that pressure, Edd Dibb crossed the line putting us 7-0 into the lead. Littlemore came back at us but we resisted quite well till Simon K was carded for offside. A little harsh, but probably deserved a penalty. With 1 man down Littlemore took advantage and scored (7-7).

After the sin bin, Phoenix started exploiting their soft area 10,12,13 channel with some fantastic wrap moves and great passing, and Chris Varey went over for a try. 12-7 to Phoenix at 35 minutes.

Unfortunately Edd Dibb received a shoulder injury so we took the opportunity to bring some subs on and reshuffle the lineups. We moved James Richardson from fullback to loosehead prop (Littlemore were laughing till the first scrum) and Alex Prentice came on to replace John Kilby on the wing, who moved to fullback, a position he had never played. Luke Maundrill playing 8 in true style did tons of hard work, so we gave him a rest and replaced him with Nigel Coltman going to 8 and Alan Bird coming on in second row.

Now we all know scrum halves push the offside line a little far, but Matt Landers decided to keep pushing and pushing and eventually managed to get a 10 minute break as he was sin binned.

You guessed it Littlemore scored again with no time on the first half clock and with the try unconverted it was all level at 12-12.

Still with 14 men James Richardson scored his first try converted by Nigel Coltman, 19-12 to Phoenix. He followed this up spectacularly with lying on the floor shouting at the referee giving us another yellow card. Yes Littlemore scored again making it 19-19.

Tons of pressure from the boys gave us a penalty and Nigel Coltman slotted that for a 21-19 lead with 20 minutes left on the clock. At this point Mike Lloyd was replaced with Luke Maundrill coming back on at 8. Matt Lunn (debut 1st team game) had some fantastic runs and was through for a try when the ref decided to instead give us a penalty for a Littlemore high tackle! Obviously he figured a penalty was a better option than a try...

Littlemore came back and managed to score in the corner after a little mis-communication between our 11/15 - 24-22 to Littlemore with 10 minutes left on the clock. Yes the first time they scored with no yellow card helping them.

Unbelievable pressure by Tom Porter, Neil Wincomb, Robin Gill and the rest of the pack with I can’t count how many pick and drives, smashing runs by the centres and Kieran Roche eventually resulted in a 2nd try by James Richardson making the final score 27-24 and a bonus point win.

A great game of rugby, a great result and a solid team. Man of the match was a close call as there was not a body out there that was not exhausted after the relentless pressure. But it went to Simon K for the hard work he put on attack and defence during the entire match.

Phoenix: Tom Porter, R Gill, E Dibb, N Wincomb, N Coltman, Tony Porter, M Lloyd, L Maundrill; M Landers, K Roche, M Lunn, Simon, C Varey, J Kilby, J Richardson

Subs: P Hilling, A Prentice, A Bird