Veterans Rugby

Cobham All Stars 27 - London Welsh 19
2nd Dec 2006

With the autumn internationals over and the England coach following the same route as our own leader from last season to rugby’s equivalent of the dole queue the All Stars first encounter post New Zealand dominance was to overcome the mighty London Welsh.

A promising start even before the first whistle was exemplified by the strong squad of 19 that had been assembled. Down at pitch side however, things did not start as well as they had in the clubhouse. The All Stars found themselves a try down following some poor defence by your report writer and some quick Welsh recycling at the breakdown.

Heads did not drop though and the All Stars soon found themselves back in Welsh territory. The line out was functioning smoothly and a couple of penalties kicked into the corner allowed the All Stars some sustained pressure, however this unfortunately could not be converted into points and in the blink of an eye the Welsh had yet again broken down field and scored under the posts to make it 12 – 0.

Again the All Stars rallied and the territorial pressure once again brought them deep into the Welsh 22. A perfectly executed catch and drive resulted in Darryl Whitlock rising last from the pile of bodies. With one try not being enough, the All Stars continued their pressure and only the half time whistle denied another carbon copy Whitlock score.

With the tide appearing to turn the All Stars commenced the second half with a few personnel changes but no less spirit and determination. Once again deep into Welsh territory, the All Stars scored again this time through Pat Burton following a move from the base of the scrum.

With tails up the All Stars ran in two more tries – both from Gareth Palmer. The first followed good recycling from the forwards and quick hands from the backs. The second came from the Welsh losing possession in their 22 and Gareth making the best of the opportunity to score. This was quickly followed by Darryl scoring his second, rumbling over the line following a strong run from full back Paul Brookes.

Five tries up, the All Stars were confident of adding to their tally. The Welsh rallied towards the end and scored following a turnover from a typical All Stars quick tap. They almost scored again but for some last minute defence, but the All Stars stood firm for a fine victory.

In the bar afterwards the All Stars toasted victory with a drop of port and Pete Bartlett was also overhead muttering something along the lines of ‘it being nice to get one over on the Welsh.’

Darryl Whitlock walked off with the ‘self proclaimed’ man of the match award and despite the win, it may be wise for someone to suggest to Mrs Birch that she invests in a Tom Tom or some other sat nav device with the co ordinates fixed to ‘over the bar and between the posts’ following her better half’s Charlie Esq. kicking display. Roll on Farnborough!

Andrew LePetit