Match Report - Evesham v Longlevens (6th January)

Evesham 0 - 66 Longlevens

First visit for Longlevens to Evesham - a very nice setup, along with a warm welcome - hope they get all the flood problems sorted out soon.

Apparently the flood water in July was halfway up the bank you can see in the backgound....

Nice sunny morning, but the wind whistling along the banks of the Avon did bring back memories of those lovely, lovely days at Hereford RFC, shudder... Move on...

A look over the U16s pages on the Evesham RFC website indicated that this might be something of a struggle for them, and so it turned out - a couple of minutes in, Shane O'Brian finishing off a good move on the right for 0-5. Almost straight from the restart Rich Parker carried strongly back into the Evesham 22, with Jacob Dyer then involved in a sweeping backs move (it says here) before the ball going back into the forwards close to the left touchline for 'potty mouth' Joe Salkeld going over for 0-10.

From the restart George Cusworth put in a customary barn-storming run down the centre, putting the pressure straight back onto the home team, and 2 minutes later Jake 'Try Machine' Williams went over on the right for 0-15.



More good play from Longlevens was to follow - Paul Watson taking the ball on the burst from Christian Hartery at scrumhalf and driving into Evesham, Nathan Hazard running strongly in the centre (though overall the handling and distribution in the backs could have been better) and Jed Jones coping with whatever Evesham put his way at fullback.




20 minutes in there was some cause for concern when Rich Parker emerged from a ruck with the ball and set off the wrong way up the field - he was soon shown the error of his ways though, and charged forward, giving 'Levens head & feed at a scrum in front of the posts - they actually let the ball do the work for a change, moving it right and giving Jed an easy score when the home team ran out of defenders. 0-20.


From the restart Evesham started to put together some good phases of play, moving up the pitch on their right before strong defence from Nathan and Jake stopped them and the 'Levens forwards, lead by Ben Gabb and Tom Reade, moved back toward the home team's 22. A penalty was conceded in front of the posts, and Paul Watson went over to make the score 0-25. A couple of minutes later he showed an impressive turn of speed from the halfway line, leaving the Evesham defence for dead, for a halftime score of 0-32.




The Longlevens Brains Trust (aka Mark and Deacs) rang the changes at the changeover with Taff Ford, CJ Johnson, Chris Powick, Lewis Powell, Fergus Walsh, Matt Hayward and Mikey Yorke coming on - presumably others went off, but I've no idea who... Praise, as ever, for Steve P - making sure the lads keep up their vitamin C levels...






Fergus, playing in the centre, made a series of good breaks on the left - handling well and kicking ahead intelligently (can I say that about a 'Levens player??) with Jake aiding and abetting. Matt Hayward put in a couple of customarily strong runs on the right, with the familiar handoff much in evidence.



This was a good period of play for the home team, putting a good deal more pressure on 'Levens, but gradually the visitors began to exert pressure again, and with 15 minutes of the second half gone Christian Hartery sold a dummy that the whole Evesham defence bought from the back of a ruck 5m out, and went over to make the score 0-39, with Taff adding the extras.




5 minutes later the assembled spectators winced as Chris Powick hammered into the Evesham defence from a penalty on the right, with Lewis Powell going over for a try from the resulting ruck for 0-44. Shortly after there was more good play on the left from Fergus and Taff, with a kick ahead which the visitors managed to secure for another Hartery try - under the posts this time... 0-51.



With 10 minutes to go 'Levens stole Evesham lineout ball, Rich Parker put in another strong run, and worked the ball to Ben Gabb for 0-56. This was followed by another try for Paul Watson on the right after another big run (and impact) from Chris Powick - 0-61.



In the dying seconds of the match we saw the score of the day, with pressure in the Evesham 22 sucking defenders in, Taff executed an audacious (look it up, Rich) crossfield kick which Mikey Yorke collected expertly to bundle over for a final score of 0-66.



Joe Salked was named m-o-t-m for a storming all-round performance, and proved that not only can he swear like a navvy, he can now drink like one too - note the awstruck expression on Mark's face!!