Evenin all and Woz on… well firstly… I woke up to a strange thing this morning! A large yellow ball in the sky… I checked the forecast and it looks like we have 5 days of no rain, can you believe it ! Lord knows Allhallows needs a rain break and when I walked the fields on Tuesday evening it was “wetter than an Otters pocket”. I think this forecast has saved us for this coming weekend as it now means there will be some drying out time before Saturday.

From thinking there wasn’t any rugby last weekend, we did manage to get a change of venue for our Second team game. They were playing Sarries away but their venue was declared unfit earlier in the week so Churchie offered up our top pitch which was okish. This switch meant 30 odd blokes got a runaround and we got a bar take. It was heavy going for sure and I donned my wellies and headed on down to watch. I really enjoyed the game. The first half was nip n tuck and the teams turned round at 12 all. In the second half we seemed to get on top a bit and despite playing up the hill we powered away with two further tries and a penalty and it should have been more. The final score was 23-12 and it was a good hard fought entertaining win but for the crowd, (which was a fair number), the main touchline topic was once again the ref ,who took centre stage with some bizarre decisions and he also seemed to be inventing new laws as he went along. I felt for our skipper Dom Keeley who was often seen chatting /questioning him on his interpretation of some of them and then accepting them with a shake of the head. Still, credit to all the players they just got on with it and I was reminded by someone near me that, without refs, games don’t happen. I wonder if they get refresher courses (wash my mouth out). Jules was there videoing bits and bobs. If you get a chance to watch one in particular it one of the most blatant off side at a ruck I’ve ever seen it gets ignored, I’m saying this so you don’t think I’m just moaning for moaning’s sake.
Afterwards everyone adjourned to the bar to quaff beer and watch England thrash Scotland, there was a nice atmosphere in the bar! The game was on the edge of the seat stuff at the end and I’m afraid I didn’t think we looked very good at all. All the other teams seem to want to play attacking rugby, why don’t we? I saw a stat that said our number ten made more tackles than he did passes, surely that can’t be! I’d be a bit miffed if I played on the wing for England. All the other six nations wingers get the ball all the time and their skills are great to watch. Still…. we are winning but I feel were just not entertaining enough. Change it I say!

Sunday it was fairly quiet at Allhallows as we only had one game which was our thirteens who after their recent successes came undone against a good North Petherton side who apparently all had beards! Luckly the game finish just before the down pour. Most of the younger teams were away at north Pethy on a very windy day Niki Perry7’s and Dan Taylor and Phil Bennets 8’s looked impressive the under strength 9’s played a whole army but managed to hold out for a win and the 10’s frankly demolished their counter parts. The other two games were the 14’s who had a difficult game against Withycombe at ther place and the 15’s hung on for a good win at Tor rugby club they are starting to put some good results together. (I’ve never been to that club).

So…. with the sun predicted to shine on Saturday we entertain near neighbours Withycombe and no secret here…we are seeking a bit of revenge as we lost the away game by a point at their place with the final kick of the game. It was a win that many thought was gained in fairly controversial fashion, hey ho and it was a local derby so, what do you expect. It’s third place (us) v fifth so… “come on down if you’re about, it should be a close encounter and you won’t get wet!”.
We are also saying a big thanks to some of our hard press volunteer with a lunch put on for them. Emma is rustling up some fayre and we also have the President of the Devon RFU coming along as well. It’s Paul Harris who I’ve known for many years, nice chap and he knows his stuff because he’s basically run Crediton rugby club for ever. If you’re coming down as a volunteer I’d say engage with him, it’s rare to get a visit to our humble shack from Devon Rugby royalty.

On Sunday we have the 11’s 15’s and 13’s on the top pitch and the 7’s and 9‘s are on the bottom pitch and all are playing Topsham. Then away at Topsham we have the 8’s and 12’s playing and the other game is the 10’s who travel to Teignmouth for their game. Unfortunately there’s no game for the 14’s.

That’s about it for this week …. Just off to watch the news and see what the Orange faced nut case has done today. (Sorry that just slipped out!).

#UTT

Lord Jez