Broadstreet RFC

Warwickshire Colts Cup Final

Broadstreet 18 – 23 Nuneaton

Broadstreet Colts met Nuneaton Colts in a packed Butts Park Arena on Monday night in the final of the Warwickshire Colts Cup. Nuneaton had arguably the harder run to the final seeing off Barkers Butts and Kenilworth in earlier rounds and could be considered favourites heading in to the match. Broadstreet  on the other hand had seen off Old Coventrians in a close encounter in the semi’s but, despite losing to Nuneaton twice in the season, were quietly confident of win now they were back up to full strength.

Fly-halves Jack Howland and Joe Wilson traded penalties in the first 3 minutes of the game when each team struggled to deal with their respective restarts effectively and gave away a penalty. These mistakes were a symptom of the forwards from both sides being a little over eager to make their mark on the game by infringing at the breakdown. 12 minutes in, after a number of physical collisions, things boiled over on the sidelines after a Nuneaton player was driven into touch. Broadstreet prop Falcini and Nuneaton 8 Marshall rifled off a number of punches at but causing no real damage to each other. However, this was still worthy of setting off ‘handbags’ amongst other players from both sides who were in the same general vicinity (i.e Joe ‘judo chop’ Lowery) and referee James Clarke decided to send out a strong message by sending the two guilty parties to the sin-bin. However, after a long debate with his officials the referee managed to get the completely wrong end of the stick and sin-binned Nuneaton’s prop Wylie and Broadstreet’s number 8 Dan ‘it wasn’t me’ Staunton. 3-3 

Being ‘Streets sizeable asset in the pack, Staunton’s absence would have a greater affect on Broadstreet than Nuneaton’s loss. This was evident moments later when the Nuneaton fly-half drilled the ball into the corner from the penalty and gave his pack the platform to test the ‘Street defence from close range. The Nuneaton pack duly turned the screw and after a neat catch’n’drive touched down in the corner, Joe Wilson supplementing the try with a decent conversion. 3-10

With less than 10 minutes to go in the half Nuneaton began a period of pressure camped down deep in ‘Street territory, dragging in the Coventry sides defence with a number of pick’n’drives. A couple of passes wide saw Nuneaton prop Wyllie with the ball, 15 metres to the line and a number of runners outside of him. Blatantly ignoring 10 years of coaching, his supporting runners and the shouting crowd, the prop stuck his head down and ran for glory. The Broadstreet covering tackles came too late and Wylie just about reached the line for Nuneaton’s 2^nd try which Wilson once more converted. 3-17

Broadstreet rallied after Nuneaton’s 2^nd try and showed good determination to get some points back before half time. When a penalty was rewarded from Street pressure fly-half Jack Howlands opted for the posts from 40 metres out, unfortunately despite having the distance the ball rebounded off the post into the arms of his opposite number Wilson…….who fumbled it forward. ‘Street centre and captain Mikey Tyrrell was given his first real opportunity to run with the ball from the resultant set-piece and instantaneously kicked it instead. His chip over the defence was promising but Nuneaton winger Tom Challis got back in the nick of time to both collect the ball and then be thrown over his own line by Tyrrell. Unfortunately the referee missed this and a 22 dropout was awarded which Nun’s Wilson blasted out on the full, luckily for him the young referee had another senior moment and allowed the lineout to be formed on the halfway where the rest of the half played out.

Half Time 3 - 17

With a sizeable deficit in front of them Broadstreet came out for the second half all guns blazing and powered into the Nuneaton 22 with some dynamic pick’n’goes and an excellent run from scrumhalf Lewis Gardener which was somehow held up over the line. ‘Street lost a bit of momentum from the scrum and found themselves driven back a further 10 metres from the Nuneaton line. However momentum was returned from an unlikely source when Broadstreet loose-head Sam ‘FagsnBooze’ Cullinane picked up from the base of a ruck and set off down the densely packed 5 metre channel. The former backrow player put all of his recently added weight to good use as he carried on up the channel with Nuns defenders attempting to shuffle him into touch, but to no avail and he crashed over in the corner. Unfortunately Cullinane’s try in the very corner made Howland’s conversion too hard and it drifted wide of the near post. 8-17

2 minutes later and Broadstreet were back threatening the Nuns line again, halted by the ref blowing for a Nuns’ infringement in front of their posts which Howland easily struck over. The next 25 minutes saw an excellent kicking display from Nuneaton fly-half Wilson who would turn Broadstreet pressure into Nuneaton attack with a number of long and accurate kicks deep into ‘Street territory.  11-17

However, despite Wilson’s efforts it was Broadstreet who struck again with just 10 minutes to go. An increasingly mature performance from the ‘Street pack saw them trundle into the red zone and test Nun’s defence for long periods. This finally paid off when, after a number of dangerous picks from the base of the scrum, Staunton received the ball from a ruck and crashed through a couple of tackles to score. This time Howland had no problems adding the extras and putting Broadstreet deservedly in front for the first time in the match. 18-17

Wilson’s high hanging restart fell to Street’s flanker Alex ‘Carlos Puyol’ Beddows whose long lustrous locks must have blocked his eyes  as he failed to collect allowing Nuneaton back into ‘Street territory. Nuneaton tried a backs move off the next breakdown but that was rudely cut short by a huge hit by Jack ‘Big Time’ Howland that flipped the Nuneaton player onto his back as he tried to jump the tackle. The referee blew immediately awarding a penalty and sin-binning Howland for ….. dangerous tackling around the ankles? Wilson stepped up again and from in front of the posts snatched back ‘Streets hard fought for lead with 8 minutes to go. 18-20

Once more Wilson made a habit of pinging the ball into the corners gaining his side territory and ‘Street conceded another penalty with in kicking distance in their eagerness to try and get back into the Nuns half. Fly-half Wilson completed his 100% kicking record for the day with 2 minutes left to play. Despite the ticking clock and with a converted try needed for victory, Broadstreet did not look defeated. They regained the ball from the restart and attacked into the Nuneaton 22, starting a rolling maul which took them with in an inch of the Nuneaton line before it was dubiously halted, unfortunately this was ‘Street’s best opportunity to score and when a Nuneaton defender hoofed out the ball from the next breakdown it was all over for the side from Coventry.  18-23

Full Time 18-23