A deceitfully pleasant Saturday morning set up a clash in horrific conditions for GYBRFC away at Norwich Medics. The stormy conditions which had wreaked havoc across the country the day before, and all but disappeared by Saturday morning, were back with a vengeance as the two sides neared kick off. GYBRFC travelled with a strong squad with 2 notable changes. Jordan Winney going in at hooker for the injured George Wilson and Marcus Lekerman taking over at Fly Half for James Doggett. Unfortunately, it was determined that the match would be played with uncontested scrums from the start, due to a lack of front row experience amongst the young opposition.
A minutes round of applause was held on the pitch before kick off in honour of Evesham Rugby player, Jack Jeffrey, who tragically passed away after sustaining an injury whilst scoring a try the previous weekend.
Playing into gale force winds and driving rain, Medics got the game underway. The ball, caught in the gusts, dropped just on the 10 and was collected by the home side, creating an instant threat. Excellent work at the break down from Jordan Winney and Ben Collings soon relieved the pressure, jackalling for the ball and making trademark turnovers. GYBRFC were quickly on the attack. Liam Haylett picked from a scrum just outside the opposition 22, he got the ball away to Darren Gook, who drove over for the first try of the match, and his third in as many games! Converted calmly by Marcus Lekerman under horrendous conditions. Hard tackles from captain Lewis Fox and Ant Payne prevented medics from making any serious ground and GYBRFC enjoyed plenty of possession. Despite the conditions, Stu Brown, Dan Lawrence and Nathan Bensley could all have been mistaken for backs with beautiful offloads despite a slippery ball, making huge metres over the gain line, it is a fifteen-man game after all. Eventually Martyn Greenwood found himself on the end of one of these moves, carrying 2 medic players over the line to score, converted by Marcus Lekerman. The backs were doing everything they could to keep themselves warm and involved in the game, Jay Pollard and Joe Bensley prevented any simple escape for the Medics back line and Tristan Barber was making superb supporting runs ready for the offload.
Unfortunately, Medics had been losing players at a steady rate throughout the game and even with Kieran Wilkes and Brandon White valiantly putting on a Medic’s shirt, the referee decided that due to the conditions and the lack of opposition numbers, the game should end after 30 minutes.

GYBRFC are making the most of a break in fixtures next weekend with a club tidy up, all are welcome from 9 -12 on Saturday 26th. GYBRFC are next in action on Saturday 5th March in a home game against Holt II’s, who narrowly bested the supermen 29-26 when they met earlier in the season.

A reminder that training is held at 19:00 on Tuesdays at Cobholm playing field, all are welcome.