AECC RFC 13
Exeter University IV 10
After their superb start to the season, finishing unbeaten in the league at the Christmas break, AECC Rugby hosted Exeter University, one of their rivals for promotion today.
The Chiros started in fine fettle, with some good phase play inside their own half, though field position was hard to come by until Exeter conceded a penalty, which signalled the start of a Chiro march down the field, culminating in a scrum on the 22, with a simple Mike Richards-Matt Bateman hookup from the scrum base allowing Clive Hurkett to continue his inexplicable fine form on the wing and cross the tryline for the opening score.
AECC seemed to take their foot off the pedal though, seemingly thinking that the back of the match had already been broken. Penalties, however, were to be the persistent thorn in the side of the Chiros. After being marched back into their own 22, the Chiros infringed again and the penalty was duly dispatched between the uprights. AECC 5-3 Exeter.
There was plenty of argy bargy to be had one way and another, and plenty of chat (disgraceful) to go with it. In defence of the AECC though, most of theirs consisted of “get on with the game” style comments, whilst a choice (and, to be fair, representative) Exeter quote went thusly: “Ref, ref, inappropriate use of the boot!”. ‘Old Father Time’ Joe Frost was later to sagely comment “you can’t be that angry if you’ve formed a sentence like that”.
Continued pressure in the Exeter 22 was soon to pay off again when a beautifully weighted kick from the boot of skipper Matt Bateman pinned Exeter inside their own 5 metre line. From the resulting lineout, the superb Alex Horne stole the ball, the maul being set and driven over from close range for the try. Alas, it seems every silver lining must have its cloud, and sure enough, the try scorer turned out to be sodding Tom Waller. Half time AECC 10-3 Exeter
The second half opened with a similar taste to the action as seen in the first – neither side really having the upper hand, and plenty of ‘disagreements’ to go with it. Joe Frost, seemingly in grumpy old man mode for the day, was pulled up for a scuffle with some blonde-haired idiot David Strettle wannabe winger who was probably just upset he came off worse. The whistle-happy referee then proceeded to spend the best part of what seemed half an hour taing witness statements before deciding the best course of action was an Exeter penalty. Bit of a let-down for the drama-craving crowd to be fair. From the resulting lineout, Exeter’s previously effective rolling maul was stopped at source, only for their backs to score from an annoyingly well-worked try. And then their really annoying fly half kicked another two points, which was pretty annoying.
All this apparently annoyed the AECC boys enough for them to play a bit of rugby, as pressure in the Exeter 22 was swiftly turned into points as Matthew Bateman did what Jonny Coller apparently can’t, and slotted the ball over the posts for the Chiros to regain the lead. Exeter’s frustration was beginning to show and when a good Chiro break had them streaking upfield swiftly, a transgression at the breakdown led to the only yellow card of the game for Exeter’s tighthead prop. Although the one-man advantage didn’t turn into any points for the AECC, they held out (through some very contentious decisions) to the end. It is worth noting though, Damian Le Roux’s outstanding hit on the Exeter blindside flanker, who must have been lucky to escape with no broken ribs! It got Ben Rutter very excited.
AECC now sit top of the league, six points clear of Exeter and 5 clear of Cardiff. Next week the AECC are again at home to Bristol University IV, with another good performance and good result on the cards. Kickoff time is to be arranged, suffice to say there will be an email going round!
Man of the match, goes to the flawless performance of The Horne, with honourable mentions to Dean Matthews and the evergreen Alan Ryan. Big hands also to Alex Broomsgrove on his debut, Piet Le Roux for stepping in at the last minute to come off the bench, to T-Dizzle and Sindre for benching, to Ben Rutter and Luke "Cheggers" Pegna for playing for us, and finally to Josh Dixon for volunteering as photographer for the day – if you’re lucky we’ll send some of the best ones around.
AECC: Ricky Davis, Alex Broomsgrove (Ed Crawford), Alan Ryan, Damian Le Roux, Clive Hurkett, Joe Frost, Matt Bateman (c), Struan Brown, Tom Waller, Ben Rutter, Alex Horne, Dean Matthews, Guy Falco (Piet Le Roux), Luke Pegna, Mike Richards, Sindre Witzoe, Tom Donaldson.
“Not bad for a touch team”
Exeter University IV 10
After their superb start to the season, finishing unbeaten in the league at the Christmas break, AECC Rugby hosted Exeter University, one of their rivals for promotion today.
The Chiros started in fine fettle, with some good phase play inside their own half, though field position was hard to come by until Exeter conceded a penalty, which signalled the start of a Chiro march down the field, culminating in a scrum on the 22, with a simple Mike Richards-Matt Bateman hookup from the scrum base allowing Clive Hurkett to continue his inexplicable fine form on the wing and cross the tryline for the opening score.
AECC seemed to take their foot off the pedal though, seemingly thinking that the back of the match had already been broken. Penalties, however, were to be the persistent thorn in the side of the Chiros. After being marched back into their own 22, the Chiros infringed again and the penalty was duly dispatched between the uprights. AECC 5-3 Exeter.
There was plenty of argy bargy to be had one way and another, and plenty of chat (disgraceful) to go with it. In defence of the AECC though, most of theirs consisted of “get on with the game” style comments, whilst a choice (and, to be fair, representative) Exeter quote went thusly: “Ref, ref, inappropriate use of the boot!”. ‘Old Father Time’ Joe Frost was later to sagely comment “you can’t be that angry if you’ve formed a sentence like that”.
Continued pressure in the Exeter 22 was soon to pay off again when a beautifully weighted kick from the boot of skipper Matt Bateman pinned Exeter inside their own 5 metre line. From the resulting lineout, the superb Alex Horne stole the ball, the maul being set and driven over from close range for the try. Alas, it seems every silver lining must have its cloud, and sure enough, the try scorer turned out to be sodding Tom Waller. Half time AECC 10-3 Exeter
The second half opened with a similar taste to the action as seen in the first – neither side really having the upper hand, and plenty of ‘disagreements’ to go with it. Joe Frost, seemingly in grumpy old man mode for the day, was pulled up for a scuffle with some blonde-haired idiot David Strettle wannabe winger who was probably just upset he came off worse. The whistle-happy referee then proceeded to spend the best part of what seemed half an hour taing witness statements before deciding the best course of action was an Exeter penalty. Bit of a let-down for the drama-craving crowd to be fair. From the resulting lineout, Exeter’s previously effective rolling maul was stopped at source, only for their backs to score from an annoyingly well-worked try. And then their really annoying fly half kicked another two points, which was pretty annoying.
All this apparently annoyed the AECC boys enough for them to play a bit of rugby, as pressure in the Exeter 22 was swiftly turned into points as Matthew Bateman did what Jonny Coller apparently can’t, and slotted the ball over the posts for the Chiros to regain the lead. Exeter’s frustration was beginning to show and when a good Chiro break had them streaking upfield swiftly, a transgression at the breakdown led to the only yellow card of the game for Exeter’s tighthead prop. Although the one-man advantage didn’t turn into any points for the AECC, they held out (through some very contentious decisions) to the end. It is worth noting though, Damian Le Roux’s outstanding hit on the Exeter blindside flanker, who must have been lucky to escape with no broken ribs! It got Ben Rutter very excited.
AECC now sit top of the league, six points clear of Exeter and 5 clear of Cardiff. Next week the AECC are again at home to Bristol University IV, with another good performance and good result on the cards. Kickoff time is to be arranged, suffice to say there will be an email going round!
Man of the match, goes to the flawless performance of The Horne, with honourable mentions to Dean Matthews and the evergreen Alan Ryan. Big hands also to Alex Broomsgrove on his debut, Piet Le Roux for stepping in at the last minute to come off the bench, to T-Dizzle and Sindre for benching, to Ben Rutter and Luke "Cheggers" Pegna for playing for us, and finally to Josh Dixon for volunteering as photographer for the day – if you’re lucky we’ll send some of the best ones around.
AECC: Ricky Davis, Alex Broomsgrove (Ed Crawford), Alan Ryan, Damian Le Roux, Clive Hurkett, Joe Frost, Matt Bateman (c), Struan Brown, Tom Waller, Ben Rutter, Alex Horne, Dean Matthews, Guy Falco (Piet Le Roux), Luke Pegna, Mike Richards, Sindre Witzoe, Tom Donaldson.
“Not bad for a touch team”
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