Stags v Bromsgrove

It was a very cold day to be heading an hour down the road somewhere in the West Midlands. The frivolities began with a minor blip of the fun busses battery but with the help of Sando’s special juice, it was up and running…for now.

With everyone now at the stadia of Bromsgrove, we saw the long awaited return of Josh Raqio to the bench accompanied by debutant of Will, Parker’s mate after some late shuffling round of the squad.

The game began with an interesting drop kick from the ten, the low and long technique, the stags began to build up some pressure. Some good intent from BGrove pushing themselves deep into stag territory and coming away with 3 points. But it didn’t take long for the stags quality to be shown through some Fijian style handling to work into the opponents 22, excellent stuff given the conditions and few could actually feel their hands. Pressure remained high and a lovely weighted pass for a big run up came to Steve Harvey only to be haunted cms from the line by a brave tackle. Excellent core strength on the floor to recycle the ball quickly to Dylan who shipped it on to Leonard and Shaun Hubbard doting down in the corner. Unsuccessful conversion, it was very windy.

Play continued, small attacks from Bromsgrove applied some pressure but solid D from stags forced the kick. Stags worked their way back to the BGrove half before George HGV Fluffy ran a sumptuous line after a delayed little goose step and delayed pop from Leonard. HGV fluffy broke through the tackle, drew in the final defender and shifted the ball to Sharkey running a great support line and over for the next try. Storm Arwen taking its toll on the kickers and another missed conversion, just.

The final try for the stags in the first half began with a well formed maul, Pretty Ricky producing the goods from the throw in difficult conditions. As the maul began to lose momentum Dylan Baggins took the ball from the back, but confusion in the call meant a little pop to Leonard was expected, however this looked more like a double bluff to the BGrove defender who was also confused. Leonard does a little shimmy to beat the befuddled defender and in the process of being tackle by the cover defender he gives a kerian read like offload to Shae who produced one of many magical support lines through out the game. Shae used his snake hips to slither his way through defenders who looked like they were playing tag rugby and went in for his first for the day. Try converted by Leonard. Still windy.

Towards the latter stages of the half ill discipline took centre stage for both teams but the stags paid the price with two high tackles in a row meaning Steve Harvey left the pitch for 10mins on the naughty step, followed by a penalty try to BGrove. Hard lesson for the stags.

Half time - BGrove 10 - 17 Stags

Again their 10 stuck with the tried and tested long and low kick giving various opportunities for Stags to go wide or time for an easy kick out. Some tactical kicks meant stags pushed their way into the opposite half and with pressure on the line out, turned over the ball. Some clever play by the old dog Sando around the outside of the ruck gave the slightest of gaps for Ed Burgess to truck his way through two players, with a small gallop and go over in the corner for his first try in a Hinckley shirt. More wind, another missed kick. #BringBackBully

This seemed to kick start the stags again and with possession pushed again into the red zone. Some lovely forward interplay found its way to Will Sutts who carried well, fended what seemed like 3 players with one hand whilst the other hand channelled its inner Sonny Bill Williams for an out the back door offload to Sam Clayton who fended another player to cross the white wash.

Now came the return of Raqio, on for the always injured, Noah Reeve. A great impact from Josh where loving the contact bumps a number of players to get the offload away to an inside stag and then managing to find its way to go back to Josh for another try in the corner. This time converted by Leonard #DontNeedBully

With the half beginning to come to a close the stags we’re relentless in their pressure and hungered for more tries. Silky hands and solid carried from the forwards gave stags good territory which allowed the backs to exploit various holes in the Bromsgrove back line. With the good form of hands continuing, some offloads found the ball with Will, Parker’s mate, who with gas on the outside and a solid hand off again scored in the corner for the debutants first try. Ball fell off tee twice, Leonards take a drop kick, best connection all game but ultimately missed. Strong wind. Again. Storm Arwen.

The final score began from inside the stags half with Chris Arnold taking the 5th kick off into the bread basket and for the 5th time managing to find gaps on the right hand side, brushing aside players with ease and gaining big yards off each lengthy stride. This gave the backs yet more delicious platforms where a 4 man overlap found its way to Raqio, who could’ve ran into space but chose the ole bump and run, to go under the sticks. Quick conversion taken and the game finishing shortly after.

Final score Bromsgrove 10 - Stags 48

Solid defence from the stags and even more applaudable hands with the offloads looking like something you’d see in the Fijian 7s circuit.

MOM goes to Chris Arnold, the epitome of the hard dogged work shown by the pack today.
Honourable mention to Ed Burgess and George Marsden (again) who was also in discussion for the accolade.

Also a big thank you to Bromsgrove RFC for looking after the stranded 9 after the fun bus decided not to work for the stags to return meaning 9 players were stranded at the club house for 4 additional hours !!! The hospitality shows the spirit of the game.

Up the stags

Josh Leonard