Catch up on the past three Colts matches. Huge thanks to Ed Duffy for the match reports and apologies for the late publication.
Kidderminster Colts v Worcester Colts | Sunday 23rd January | WIN 40 - 5
Worcester kicked off in the post-Christmas rematch against Kidderminster and recovered the ball to attack straight up the middle with a big carry from Isiah Martin. The drive ultimately ended with Worcester conceding a penalty for going off their feet about 5m out. Kidderminster took full advantage of the penalty forcing Worcester back to their own line before knocking on whilst on the verge of scoring. After the opening blows the game settled down with Worcester missing several chances to score, before a break up the middle followed by fast hands down the wing left Shelton Stanley with one man to beat before diving over the line to score in corner. The conversion was a difficult one although Ben Atkins’ strike never looked like missing.
Worcester followed up with another try fifteen minutes later. An excellent team effort with at least three offloads out of tackles and a pop off the floor by Chris Soul-Clayton, Olly Catherwood was brought down 5m short of the line before Joel Rickman saw an opportunity pick and go. On the brink of half-time Freddie Whittaker jackled the ball before Harvey Sharpe took off on a destructive run bouncing off several defenders along the way to score on the edge of the pitch, the conversion brilliantly made by Ben W. When asked about the try Harvey remarked that he didn’t know where ‘that’ came from but that it wasn’t coming back.
Around 20 mins into the second half Ollie Blunt on his return to the side crashed through before outpacing several Kidderminster players to dive under the posts. Ben Waddington then converted. Two minutes later Ollie Blunt made another break this time passing the ball wide to Will Dunaway who shipped it out to Shelton to score his second of the match. Ben Atkins resumed kicking duties, sinking the kick from the edge of touch.
With five minutes left in the match Ben Waddington saw an opportunity for a cross-field kick which was hacked on by Ben Atkins who then dotted the ball down over the line. Ben Waddington’s conversion fell short by only a few feet.
In the final play of the match Kidderminster attacked of the back of the scrum after several resets to the bemusement of the Worcester pack. Drawing Worcester defenders in creating space out wide which was exploited well before being passed back inside to score under the posts. The conversion was missed to make the final score 40-5.
Standout performances were Ben Waddington and Ben Atkins for their kicking, Harvey Sharpe and Ollie Blunt for their destructive runs and Freddie Whittaker and Tom Owen for excellent work rate around the field and outstanding effort.
Worcester Colts v Hereford Colts | Sunday 6 th February | Loss 22 - 5
Worcester played their first match against Hereford this season at home but it was the visitors who were first to score. Drawing in Worcester players with some hard hitting carries left Worcester thinly spread on the wings which Hereford duly exploited to dive over on the wing. In the windy conversion the tricky conversion was missed.
Five minutes later Worcester duly responded with excellent quick ball and one up runners to drive Hereford back down the middle of the pitch, Harvey Sharpe was stopped just short of the line but manged to present the ball back allowing Ben Waddington to throw a ball over the top for Elijah Martin to catch in a walkover try. Once again the conversion was missed in the high wind. These proved to be the only scores of the first half, both teams played good rugby with high numbers of phases but neither team was able to make a real impact in the 22.
The score remained unchanged for a further half an hour after half time. Hereford were penalised with a yellow card for repeated high tackles however Worcester failed to capitalise on the one man advantage. In the 67th minute Hereford drove into the 22 crashing the ball up the middle before flicking the ball out wide and scoring. The conversion was scored this time making the score 12-5 to Hereford. It wouldn’t take long for Hereford to score again, after great work from Worcester to disrupt Hereford’s maul on the 5m line, falling just short of driving it into touch, Hereford ran the ball forward with fast hands from the backs leading to a try in the corner, the conversion was missed leaving Worcester with a lot of work to do with just five minutes left.
In the final minutes of the game Worcester turned the ball over within their 22 and Hereford capitalised by driving up the middle with pick and go phases, scoring under the posts. The conversion was missed making the final score 22-5
Worcester Colts v Walsall Colts | Sunday 13 th February | WIN 42 - 17
The match kicked off under torrential rain and it didn’t take long for Worcester to go on the offensive. After an extended period in the Walsall ’22 Charlie “Chazaloo” Lewis thundered over from two metres out. The conversion was missed in the appalling conditions.
Immediately after the kick-off the Walsall fly half went down with a dislocated shoulder. After a brief delay play resumed with Ollie Catherwood falling on a loose ball and diving over the line. Soon after Ben Atkins scored, getting on the outside shoulder of his opposite man and racing away down the touchline taking the score to 15-0. With half-time rapidly approaching Walsall capitalised when Worcester dropped the ball; the visitors hacked through to score.
The second half began with the long awaited return of star scrum half Ed Duffy, in his first match at 9 since he was brutally struck down against Droitwich. After a long grubber kick from Ben Waddington that Ben Atkins was unlucky not to get on the end of Worcester kept up the pressure before Ed picked the ball up at the back of a ruck in the red zone and beat the guard on his outside shoulder to dive over. The score was met with great approval from the team, Chazaloo lifting him skyward in a Titanic style move.
Four minutes later Walsall pulled the home team back down to earth scoring a try from within their own half making the score 22-12. It wasn’t long until Worcester struck back, Ollie Blunt crashing through several tackles and scoring. Under immense pressure from the Worcester scrum Walsall’s scrum half hacked the ball towards his standoff, the ball bounced towards the try line and Ed stole the loose ball from between the legs of a Walsall player in a head first dive, sliding over the whitewash for a second time to complete his phoenix-like reappearance.
With the win assured with three minutes left Worcester had time for one more attack, a quick blindside run by Ben Atkins fed Elijah Martin who beat the last defender to score in the corner making the score at the whistle 43-17 to Worcester.
