Pinley RFC is a club renowned for its hospitality and good sportsmanship and for living by the maxim that “Football is a gentleman’s game played by ruffians, whilst Rugby is a ruffian’s game played by gentlemen”, and so it was with great pleasure and much anticipation that the Broadstreet 3rd XV made the short journey from their Rugby Road headquarters to Wyken Croft for their latest Warwickshire League Two fixture, looking to build on the many-point drubbing dished out to their hosts when the sides met at the Ivor Preece Field back in November.  Surprisingly, given the usual excellence of the facilities there, the ‘Street boys arrived to find the Pinley away team dressing room flooded, possibly because of the reported incontinence issue sadly afflicting former Broadstreet player, now Pinley stalwart, Matthew ‘Slim’ Clarke? Rather than paddling in *iss, and having opted to change in the newly refurbished gym, which was resplendent with much-used modern apparatus no doubt designed to strengthen the athletic prowess of the Pinley players, the ‘Street lads trotted out to be greeted by an unusually partisan Pinley crowd, who provided much joviality and conviviality in the true spirit of rugby football throughout the afternoon, writes Kofi Annan.

The Pinley men were fired up for the occasion and their big forward pack dominated the early exchanges putting their, in the main, younger counterparts under pressure in the set pieces, starving ‘Street of possession and camping close to the visitors’ try line. Scrum after scrum followed as excellent defence from the visiting back row of Pete ‘The Pole’ Wisniewski, Chris ‘Mr Greedy’ Dodd and Pete ‘Evergreen’ Branston repelled wave after wave of attack until the hosts powerful no. 8 picked up and crashed through for the first try of the afternoon, taking Pinley in to a 5 – 0 lead, the somewhat over-enthusiastic cheers from the home support suggesting their team had just won the World Cup, rather than merely established an all-too-slender lead after 15 minutes of dominating territory and possession.

From the restart ‘Street’s young fly-half Callum Abbott kicked deep in to the hosts’ 22, and with the back-line of Darroll ‘Dead Eye’ Watts, Marc Brittain, Ashley ‘Ratty’ Lightowler, Adam ‘Short Stride’ Tyrrell and Paddy Hughes up quickly and preventing any counterattack from Pinley and ever-present forwards Robbie Brown, Jamie McDonnell-Watts, ‘Big’ Brendan McGuire and Danny Havart turning over ball, the visitors started to gain the upper hand both in terms of territory and possession. With Danny Havart dominating the line-outs, Chris ‘Mr Greedy’ Dodd running strongly and the Pinley pack tiring visibly, ‘Street created the perfect platform for dynamic young scrum-half Connor Hunt to release his backs and four unanswered tries followed in relatively quick succession, three of which were converted by Darroll ‘Dead Eye’ Watts, the only blot on ‘Street’s copybook being a dropped ball from the final restart, which allowed the Pinley no. 8 in for a soft try, his second, on the stroke of half-time. Half-Time: Pinley RFC 2nd XV 10, Broadstreet RFC 3rd XV 26.

Pinley kicked off to start the second half and what followed was a few minutes of pure magic from ‘Street, effectively putting the game beyond the hosts’ reach and resulting in them turning to “alternative tactics” to avoid a complete whitewash. Firstly Jamie McDonnell-Watts took a clean catch from the second-half kick-off and in a Watts-like tradition going back many years ran up his own *rse, confusing all 30 players (including himself) and referee alike, but eventually managing to find the visitor’s rampaging Marc Brittain, who sprinted the full length of the pitch untouched by a Pinley player to score under the posts. Not to be outdone, from the next kick-off, skipper John Brown performed acrobatics that belie his advancing years to secure the ball and feed the back-line, which led to another immediate try for the visitors under the posts. The Pinley lads trudged back under their posts looking more depressed than their clubhouse, and clearly decided that they were going to “change” the game to prevent total humiliation. During this period Danny ‘Tinkerman’ Rowan introduced his full quota of 5 permitted substitutes, Marco Di Maria, Jack Simpson, ‘Bainsy’, Robbie Holmes and Stewart Crawford all providing fresh-leg impetus. Not to be outdone, Pinley played their own tactical “joker” with Matthew ‘Slim’ Clarke entering the fray for the hosts, walking aimlessly around the pitch and encouraging his mates to do “anything they could” to stem the flow of ‘Street points. Unfortunately, the hosts’ no. 8 interpreted this somewhat differently to the permitted rules of rugby football and launched an unprovoked attack on Chris ‘Mr Greedy’ Dodd, with a less than sportsmanlike head butt, which cost him not only a red card, but also a bulging black eye, whilst Chris didn’t even seem to have a scratch on him! The justified sending-off settled things down, and with harmony restored, the game came to its conclusion with ‘Street crossing the home side’s whitewash for one more converted try before the full-time whistle, in what was yet another convincing victory over their near neighbours and old rivals. Full-Time: Pinley RFC 2nd XV 10, Broadstreet RFC 3rd XV 47.

Team: 15 Paddy Hughes; 14 Ashley ‘Ratty’ Lightowler, 13 Marc Brittain, 12 Darroll Watts, 11 Adam Tyrrell; 10 Callum Abbott, 9 Connor Hunt; 1 Robbie Brown, 2 John Brown ©, 3 Jamie McDonnell-Watts; 4 ‘Big’ Brendan McGuire, 5 Danny Havart; 6 Pete ‘Evergreen’ Branston, 7 Pete ‘The Pole’ Wisniewski, 8 Chris ‘Mr Greedy’ Dodd.  16 ‘Bainsy’, 17 Jack Simpson, 18 Robbie Holmes, 19 Marco Di Maria, 20 Stewart Crawford.

Manager: Danny ‘Tinkerman’ Rowan

Men-of-the-Match: Chris ‘Mr Greedy’ Dodd / Marc Brittain

Dicks-of-the-Day: Pinley No. 8 / Matthew ‘Slim’ Clarke

Special mention to unused substitutes : Danny Ferry / Dessie Hancox – These two young guys deserve special credit for accepting without complaint that they couldn’t take part in the match due to Pinley’s magnanimous gesture of insisting that ‘Street could only use five substitutes.

Kofi’s note to himself: Tact and diplomacy are all about skill and sensitivity in dealing with others, particularly with difficult people.  Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall take flack from both sides.

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