Paviors RFC

This weekend Pavs travelled South to play Peterborough Lions at Bretton Park. Following a hard worked for victory against Nuneaton last time out, Pavs were keen to build upon the form that has seen them accrue ten points in four games. The squad were able to introduce student Ciaran Sutcliffe, give Josh Flanagan a much deserved start on the back row and reinstall Bobbie Radcliffe on the wing.

From the outset Pavs looked rather nervy and anxious. After two minutes Lions opened the scoring via some stylish interplay by the boys from Tonga and particularly the full back. Pavs began to settle down and displayed increasing levels of fluidity, before openside James Reeson, injured shoulder notwithstanding, forced his way over and with Billam extras give Pavs the lead at 7-5. In the next fifteen minutes fly half George Billam came to the fore, scoring two tries and adding the conversions, to extend Pavs lead to 21-5. Peterborough stayed in the game with some powerful thrusts from the back line before narrowing the lead at 21-12 in the dying minutes of the half.

Following the break, Pavs quickly acted upon the words of coach Nathan Eggleshaw to have more confidence in their ability and calmly execute the game plan. Accordingly. Pavs approached the half with an increasing sense of assurance. Wing Alex Barton went in for yet another try, and with the “G” in fine kicking form, give Pavs a seemingly dominating lead at 28-12. On forty seven minutes Doug Billam finished off another extended period of possession ,with “G”s extras pushing Pavs into 35-12 lead. On fifty one minutes impressive lock Ciaran Sutcliffe rounded off an excellent debut by crashing through a ruck to touch down. No.8 Phil Eggleshaw followed this up with a powerful run and score to give Pavs an unassailable 45-12 lead. For their part Lions battled away manfully and given opportunity proved to still have ability to put any team under pressure. On sixty three minutes, following a good period of possession of their own, the ball was touched down in the corner to narrow the score to 45-17. On sixty eight minutes scrum half Jonty Green made a sneaky break down the blindside before passing to Bobbie Radcliffe, who jinked and sidestepped his way over to finish the scoring at 52-17 in Pavs favour.

Overall, a nervy beginning but a commanding second half. The coach trip home was a noisy affair as was the pub later, this reflecting Pavs enjoyment of a job well done against a side more than capable of causing an upset to anyone in the weeks ahead. Pavs take on Sandbach at home next weekend on “Super Saturday” with the 1s, 2s and 3s at home it sure to be a busy affair. Onwards ……………  

Nigel Youl

1^stXV Manager