W&H Vets Stun GB with Second Half Comeback
Last Saturday a 23 strong Worcestershire & Herefordshire Vets took on Greater Birmingham at Old Halesonians in a game of two halves.
GB took the early initiative with 2 tries in the first ten minutes, firstly from a series of forward drives then the second straight from the restart when the GB centre marauded 50 metres down the right wing and evaded the desperate W&H defence to score under the posts.
W&H did have lots of chances in the first half but on every occasion the final ball was either forward or knocked on and more frustratingly GB added two penalties making the half time score W&H 0 GB 18.
The first half was summed up perfectly for W&H when referee Lex Allan penalised the W&H scrum half Dave Craddock for a crooked scrum feed!!!!
W&H fortunes improved dramatically straight from the second half kick off which was fielded by Man of the Match Stourbridge prop Rob Gazzard who rampaged through the GB forwards before offloading to Stourbridge hooker Jon Guise who raced down the left wing with GB conceding a breakdown penalty. This was tapped and the ball eventually went out to DK right wing Ross Ashcroft who crashed over to give W&H a little hope. 5-18.
This hope was quickly dashed when a GB grubber to the right was fumbled & recovered by GB who scored under the posts. 5-25.
Again from the kick off, it was GB’s turn to fumble & the ball was sent through the backs for Ashcroft to bag his second try of the game. 10-25.
Straight from the kick off Gazzard belied his discomfort from a foot injury sustained in his last league game and charged through the GB defence again before offloading for Bromsgrove back row Phil Goddard to charge over, this one was converted by Old Hales fly half Matt Wagstaff making the score 17-25 and game on!
GB came roaring back and from a 10m scrum the GB 9 dummied his way through a large hole in the W&H defence to score under the posts 17-32.
Back came W&H with a penalty to touch after a GB yellow card for a deliberate knock on, a superb lineout take by DK lock Paul Gwilliam and the ball was fed through the backs for Old Hales centre Jon Harris to score under the posts, amazingly his Old Hales colleague Waggy hit the post with the conversion 22-32.
The depleted GB line was soon breached again when Gazzard picked up from a midfield ruck, broke a tackle and charged towards the tryline, dummying the GB full back on the way to score! 27-32
It was now all W&H and another Gazzard run produced a try for Kidderminster back row Tom Maher to level the scores at 32-32!!
The GB kick off didn’t go ten metres but was taken by Kings Norton prop Nathan X who juggled the ball, finally caught it and streaked through the bemused GB defence before feeding Ashcroft for his hat trick try! 37-32
Again from the kick off, GB backs knocked on in midfield, recovered by W&H and the ball ended with stand in centre & Stourbridge number 8 Stuart Doolittle who ran 30 metres to score in the corner which secured an unlikely at half time W&H victory 42-32 and retaining the Jim Bennett Veterans Tournament trophy!!
Huge respect to Greater Birmingham for contributing massively to a superb game but who ultimately were undone by their two second half yellow cards plus the improved second half W&H display epitomised by the rampaging wrecking ball performance from W&H Man of the Match Rob Gazzard.
W&H squad: 1. Nathan (Kings Norton) 2. Dave King (Bromsgrove) 3. Rob Gazzard (Stourbridge) 4. Eoin McMahon (Old Halesonians) 5. Boffy (Dudley Kingswinford) 6. Mike Steven (Stourbridge) 7. Tom Maher (Kidderminster) 8. Stuart Doolittle (Stourbridge) 9. Dave Craddock (Stourbridge) 10. Matt Wagstaff (Old Halesonians) 11. Spitfire (Bromsgrove) 12. Jon Harris (Old Halesonians) 13. Paul Thomas (Bromsgrove) 14. Ross Ashcroft (DK) 15. Pete Crompton (Kings Norton)
Impact Players: Jon Guise (Stourbridge); Rich Gamble (Stourbridge); John Lowe (DK); Paul Gwilliam (DK); Chris Hands (Kings Norton); Ben Farmer (DK); Phil Goddard (Bromsgrove); Kenny Lammas (Bromsgrove)
Stourbridge Grasshoppers/ W&H captain Mike Steven with Matt Wagstaff and Jon Harris from Old Hales who were playing together again 35 years after Mike started his rugby journey with them at Old Hales.
Tony McMahon GB President handing the trophy over
