Abingdon Rugby Club

Playing conditions were perfect, both teams had full squads to call on, and the last match having been decided by just a single point, this was one to be enjoyed.
From the kick off Abingdon seemed to be first to settle, and showed some fine handling, and good rucking, to put early pressure on the Chippy defence. A fearsome rolling maul saw Abingdon rumbling up pitch, and gathering momentum. A scrum called, and Abingdon were the driving force, with Chippy being forced backwards at pace, until the ball suddenly shot out the side, and Chippy swooped on it. While Abs tried to re-group, Chippy sent the ball wide and ran in for a try in front of the sticks. Converted 0-7
The restart was followed up by Abs and Alaistair Smith who drove deep into opposition territory. Chippy countered with a really searching chip through, and 3 of their players looked destined to take advantage, until the safe hands of Ben Kili cleaned up, and took the attack back.
A series of scrums saw Abingdon winning every one, even against the head, and start attack after attack. Ultimately, the Chippy defence soaked up all the pressure, and managed to hold firm.
Thomas Mooring kicked accurately and long to touch, and some brilliant rucking by Abingdon followed . Jorge Cabral put in the tackle of the match , with a monster that took an attack into touch, then followed up later with a fine pop pass to Alaistair again on a charge.
End to end play continued until Aled Newton took a really heavy knock, and had to leave the pitch suffering from what looked like concussion.
Half time.
The second half was played with the same passion and the same pace, with neither side able to breach the defence. Thomas Mooring missed a challenging penalty kick from 30 metres out, and Jacob Reid stopped a Chippy counter attack with a hard tackle on the wing. The relentless nature of the game was making it a great one to watch, and both sets of spectators could not have called the result.
Tempers flared briefly, but the referee soon had the match back on track after a shake of hands between two players.
Ben Kili has to leave the pitch due to a blood injury as his nose gets into close contact with an opposition knee while making yet another courageous tackle.
The minutes ticked away, still no movement in the score, and a last kick out by Chippy sees the final whistle blown. 0 - 7

Looking at the score one might assume this match had little action, but nothing could be further from the truth. Tension, great play, passion, and two well matched teams made this a great spectacle. Every sub that went on started at game speed and made a valuable contribution. Josh Neal ,although still recovering from injury, turned up to cheer his side on too. A great team effort.


Funny moment of the match: Belly kicks for touch, and although the ball only travels 10 yards in length, it does about 60 yards sideways, and at least 2 miles in height.

After match games:  Hector decided to bite into his can of sherbet during the drinking challenge, and disappears briefly in a cloud of dust. Not wanting to waste any, he then scoops up the spilled powder, pours it in his glass and washes it down with some blackcurrant squash. He finishes second, and both players look a little queasy.

The scram down : Apologies to Chippy for no bacon rolls as the mini‘s were away today, but hopefully the brilliant after game food made up for it. Yummy shepherd spy, and Nigel’s GILBERT lasagne was superb. Nothing left at the end suggests it was pretty popular scram.

Guest player :  Well, another disaster to report. We didn’t even get that close this time.
Ex England captain, and present Saracens lock, Steve Borthwick accepted our invitation to guest today. We did have one golden rule for him though. Steve has a reputation for flashing imaginary yellow cards at refs during a game to get the opposition sent off. We at Abs don’t condone this behaviour, and made him promise to behave.
We understand the journey to the match started badly when he flashed an imaginary driving licence at the taxi sent to pick him up claiming he was driving early. When they pulled up to allow some kids to cross the road Steve was seen flashing an imaginary lollipop at the lollipop lady, and telling her she had come in from the side.
What led to his arrest and subsequent missing of the game though, was as he passed the butchers in the high street He hung out of the car window and flashed an imaginary sausage whilst shouting “Hands away, hands away”
Case is up next week apparently. Don’t call us Steve, we’ll call you.

The voice from the dug out : Excellent performance lads, well done. There really was nothing to separate the two teams, an exciting match to watch played with commitment, determination and passion.