14 Apr 10
Nuneaton Old Edwardians 33 – Old Laurentians 19
OLs bowed out of the Warwickshire Cup at the hands of old rivals Nuneaton Old Eds under the lights at Leamington RFC on Wednesday. An early lead through another super Simon Bayliss try was the only joy for OLs in a first half that Old Eds went on to dominate, recording their first score after fifteen minutes before effectively putting the game out of OL’s reach in a twenty five minute spell that yielded three more converted tries for a 26-7 half time lead.
One of the tries owed something to fortune as a high pass from scrum half was not taken cleanly by OE’s number 10 and he knocked it forward some eight or ten feet, gathering the ball before it hit the deck and completely wrong footing OL’s defence.
Ben Wiles did get over Eds line after one fluent attack featuring brother Scott, but the officials judged that he had knocked the ball on, a hairline decision.
The Nuneaton side were displaying the greater desire and ruthlessly exploiting OL’s uncharacteristically poor midfield defence, with fly half Craig Quick pulling all the strings. When centre Peacock went over for an early try in the second half and the conversion lifted the score to 33-7, it looked ominous for OLs, the prospect of a big score looming.
But from that moment the tide turned dramatically as OLs lifted their game and put Old Eds firmly on the back foot for the next thirty minutes. From the off, OLs had looked secure in the tight and regularly spoiled Eds ball, Richard Parker once again making a thorough nuisance of himself, and that pattern continued. A frail lineout in the first half suddenly clicked, so possession was regular and good.
Two second half tries resulted, Simon Bayliss notching his second after a beautifully angled crossfield kick from Denzil Evans caught Old Eds left wing in two minds and bounced well for Bayliss following up at full pace.
Then Danny Murch scored a fine individual try, chipping ahead before gathering his kick to scorch over.
By early in the second half, six replacements had joined the fray for OLs and various positional changes resulted but the team maintained a great tempo. Other opportunities came and went, notably when Scott Wiles suffered a Devon Loch moment, losing control of the ball as he was about to cross the line. Bayliss and Parker also threatened in strong thrusts, but Old Eds held out to progress to the final, where Sutton Coldfield await.
Probably a great game for the neutral as both sides gave the ball plenty of air – but a disappointing outcome for OL’s supporters.
As an interesting (but not particularly important!) afterthought, the team almost boasted four pairs of brothers in action at the same time in this game. The Todds were there from the start, as were the Wiles. Then James Orbinson came on to join brother Andy and Ted Wallis arrived with Iain already in action – but Ted replaced Ben Wiles, so what might have been some sort of record didn’t happen!
Report by Bill Wallis
