Broadstreet RFC

Tom Hoines was forced to make a couple of changes to his undefeated side as Simon Morris suffered through Illness and James Rooke had other commitments. Chris Dodd slotted in easily to replace Moz at 7 allowing Chris Zutic on to the bench, from where he would make his 1^st XV debut, whilst Sam Went started at second row.

The start of the match unfortunately seemed like a continuation of the poor finish to last week’s match, with South Leicester kicking to the corner and starting a driving maul. This was once again dealt with ineffectually and after only 3 minutes play South drove over to register the firsts points of the game when blindside flanker Josh McLaurin touched down in the corner. Mark Lord’s conversion was unsuccessful. 5-0

Despite this poor start Broadstreet began exhibiting some good phases over the next 10 minutes holding on to good field position and possession, this manifested into a Broadstreet scrum on the South Leicester 5m line. An early push from South led to a quick free-kick taken by scrummy Nick Thatcher who fed Ben Dawes and Ed Simkiss in two successive quick phases before a ‘George Gregan-esque’ inside pop to Carl Southwell who hit the ball at pace and managed to dive over the line. Tom Stokes missed conversion. 5-5

South Leicester looked very dangerous and looked like they could score from all areas of the pitch, and they tried to run it 3 times from their own 22 in the opening quarter of the match. On 20 minutes they created an overlap deep inside their own half which could have potentially resulted in a try for themselves, however a shockingly loose pass not only butchered their own opportunity but allowed ‘Street fly half Cameron Pimlow to pounce on the loose ball and grubber through, a little bit of football dribbling later and he had scored beneath the posts. Tom Stokes managed to convert the extra points but 2 minutes later missed a penalty. 12-5

South followed a simple game plan of shipping it out wide as fast and as often as possible, they created overlaps seemingly at will and their superior size in the backline made every attack dangerous. On 25 minutes one of South’s attacks seemed to be running out of space until winger Matt Fisher beat Broadstreet’s winger Matty Fielder all too easily to get at the covering fullback who was overloaded with attackers and beaten with a simple inside pass to the oncoming Dan Holmes. Mark Lord added the conversion 12-12.

Just before the half, a fantastic break up the middle by Jordan Simpson which gained 30+ metres and also fed Andy Skene who was unlucky not to score, being held up over the line. The resulting scrum allowed a couple of strong forward carries from the usual suspects of Dawes and Dago which sucked in the defence creating an overlap on the wing which Tom Stokes finished excellently. Unfortunately conversion was missed. 17-12

Half Time - South Leicester RFC 12-Broadstreet RFC 17

Straight after half time Tom Stokes missed a kickable penalty, but more frustrating was that from the next possession South Leicester capitalised and scored. Quick ball out to centre Connor Smith allowed him to get on the outside of the Broadstreet defence and gas it down the line until he reached the fullback, his deft chip and chase allowed him to stick on the after burners, cruise past the ‘Street covering defenders and score. 19-17

Minutes later South Leicester seemed to be taking control of the game and Broadstreet continued to display weakness at opposition lineout, clean ball from a driving maul was sent wide off 1^st phase which somehow allowed South’s Matt Fisher to score in the corner. Head Coach Tom Hoines made a tactical change bringing on winger Brett Chatwin to help solve the problem. 24-17

On 56 minutes Cam Pimlow took over the kicking duties from the substituted Tom Stokes but couldn’t find his form immediately either. However, from the resultant 22 dropout ‘Street surged forward with a number of attacks camping in South’s 22 for a lengthy period, a kick to the corner instead of a shot at posts enabled Broadstreet to try their own catch and drive. The drive rolled inwards and was stopped just before the try-line, but also sucked in enough defenders to create an overlap blind. Despite having flier Brett Chatwin outside him, prop Ben Dawes elected to go it alone and fortunately burst through a couple of tackles to register the points, otherwise he wouldn’t have been popular with team mates. Cam Pimlow missed conversion 24-22

For the second week running Broadstreet looked vulnerable at the lineout and on 64 minutes South’s hooker Marcus Badham latched onto the back of a driving maul and steered it over the try-line, converted by Mark Lord. From the next re-start South Leicester centre Joe Gavin lost his head and blatantly walked round the side and prevented ‘Street playing the ball and earned himself a yellow card with 15 minutes to go. 31-22

From that penalty, clean ball off the lineout was fed to Cam Pimlow who executed a fantastic dummy switch-inside pop to the oncoming Brett Chatwin, who cut through the South defence and beat the fullback to score beneath the post. Mark Lord extended the South Leicester lead with a penalty with 9 minutes to go, but momentum seemed to be shifting in the opposite direction. 34-29

With 5 minutes to go and with South Leicester about to be reimbursed with their sin-binned player Broadstreet continued to work their way up the pitch, a series of pick’n’goes dragging in the South Leicester defence, ‘Street finally stumbled on an effective way to deal with the dangerous South back-line. Cam Pimlow switched blind quickly, picked an excellent line and was fed by Eddie Simkiss, being tracked by the full-back and the covering defence he drew the man and switched with Brett Chatwin who powered through the two covering tackles to touch down in the corner. 34-34

After a poor kicking display from Broadstreet pressure was on Pimlow to put ‘Street ahead with little time left, one of the hardest kicks of the day from near the touch-line......................

Final Score-South Leicester RFC 34-Broadstreet RFC 36

MotM –

Nick Thatcher for a tireless display especially in defence

DotD –

Brett Chatwin for missing training to go to Amsterdam, barely sneaking onto the bench and almost leaving it too late