Barton Mighty Old Oaks 7 - Burton Vets 27 : 19th November 2011

Barton RFC "Mighty Oaks" Veterans team (sponsored by Chem-Dry and Stokey Plant Hire) enjoyed their first game of the season in a close game against a sturdy squad of veterans from Burton Rfc. Burtons experience and strength showed throughout and provided an ideal test for the Oaks who refused to sit back. A lack of options around the line out meant that Burton dominated in that area, although on occasions allowed Barton to pressure them into making untidy errors allowing for the ball to be turned over. The Oaks did well to restrict Burtons attempts to feed the ball out to their fast wingers, Elliot's tackles in the first quarter knocked the stuffing out of a number of dangerous attacks and subsequent turn over balls were tidied up by Todd and Senior who brought play back into Barton's hands. The evergreen Rigby cleared the lines with perfection bringing back memories of the eighties when this squad first donned their red and white quarters. The beauty of veterans rugby Is the reluctance of the old heads to allow minor errors to distract them, and the pairing at scrum and fly half proved to be a match made in heaven despite both players playing out of position. Valentine and Grant enjoyed the partnership and worked hard to pull the team back into shape when tiredness was taking over. Despite Burton scoring two tries early in the game, the Oaks took the decision to keep the ball in hand despite having penalty options to kick for goal to reduce the deficit and were rewarded when full back Shum took the ball from his own half and powered down the left wing, handing off three attempts to tackle him and placing the ball neatly under the posts. Grants conversion made it a more respectable score and just rewards for an excellent effort. Gillett and Bloxham's fitness and strength around the scrum was admirable but a special mention must go to new signings Allen and Angelides who bravely returned from rugby retirement to provide a stern opposition to the usual powerful Burton scrum. Their contribution resulted in no lost scrums for the Oaks, a fantastic achievement against an exceptionally strong pack. As the showers and luxurious changing facilities beckoned, Burton took advantage of Barton's tired bodies and added points to the board. All in all a great day out for Barton, providing a perfect foundation for improvement and opportunities for players past and present.

Photos to follow.

 

8/10

Scrummaged well, didn't get caught offside, didn't drop a ball, didn't back off in the tackles and didn't throw a single lineout ball straight. Boosted the forwards when morale was dropping and led the charge up front. Gary shores up our front row and has been described by the second row as having the most effective backside in Rugby.

8/10

Fran hooked well, despite trying to throw a left hook at Jukebox all game, and showed that hip replacements can withstand the rigours of front row work and an audacious attempt at a sidestep. Fran showed the same energy in the loose as in the set pieces and entered rucks with the same reckless abandon he uses when entering the stock markets. And like his financial investments he was slow to get out and could have benefitted from better timing.

Relished the contact, the rucks, but especially the mauling, and showed great conviction before his 50th birthday celebrations. Charlie - watch & learn.

8/10

What Russ didn't know was that his opposite number was a former British Lions card holder and commended Russ's scrummaging techniques. We knew Russ would always be solid and it was lovely to see our scrum march forward on every put it. We even knocked on purposely to watch this annihilation. Lovely.

8/10

Well there was never any doubt that Chilli was going to have a good game but we didn't expect to see him carry so much ball, and to be fair I don't think Dick expected to carry so much either, nor did he expect to wait so long for help to arrive. The lineout lifting was like something from Cape Canaveral and his ears popped when he came down, and when down, Dick's ability to handle on the floor whilst escaping infringement is an example to us all.

10/10

We used to call this team the Legends but then we had to call it the Seconds (to accommodate youngsters) and for this match called it the Veterans (due to the lack of youngsters), however no-one plays so well for so long and in such great spirit as Evan and managing 80 minutes of full contact rugby at 63 years old - there is only one Legend in the club.

8/10

Jukebox confused us all by wearing the number 9 shirt, losing it in the changing rooms after the game, then finding the number two shirt in his kit bag. Note that I don't say "surprised us all" because Jukebox has always been a bit of a Maverick. Ran around all day and got in everyone's way as usual. Always there in contact, always with hands on the ball and always supremely innocent when pinged. "Skipper !" said the ref. "Yes sir ?" I replied. "Backs all offside". "Which one Sir ?", "The Grey haired one". "You'll have to be more specific Sir". "The Scrum Half". "Scrum Half is bald Sir". "Then the one who puts his arms out as if to say ' who ? me ?". "That's Jukebox Sir".

Jukey made a full game without injury and without any bloodshed which this century has to be a record.

8/10

"You'll be safe with Betsy" was the first thing I was told when joining this club and his low grumbling commentary has been a feature of any breakdown situation ever since - "Gimme the ball", "Don't drive till the ball's at the back", "stamp on the joints", "go down on one knee and pretend you're bleeding" (I was). Always secure, always solid and able to play anywhere. Late in the game when needed, he played on the wing and confounded their 14 by running directly at him and doing a "Hand-On" rather than the more traditional "Hand-Off". By this I mean Betsy had hold of the poor chap's throat and had stopped running, waiting for support to arrive. This was in the form of Nick Rigby who found that he didn't quite have the same ability as Betsy with this technique and quickly gave the ball back.

Jumping, Rucking, Mauling, tackling. Yes things haven't changed. We were safe with Betsy.

8/10

I remember now why I loved playing with Mike at the back of the scrum. His tackling technique was (and is) unique and allowed me to jump in and rip the ball out while still on my feet. Well that's what I think I do, but Birdy tells me it is more biting, scratching, punching, and gouging the fallen man until he surrenders the football. Birdy's harsh, but Woolley's ability to bring his prey to ground will ensure he never starves in the post-apocalyptic era where we have to hunt down animals in the forest for food. He'll harry and hustle until the victim gives up, and collected the best bruise of the day.

An early break from a scrum was not the most subtle move as he found himself behind our standoff and despite pleas that he was out of the game (including a French, hands-in-the-air surrender pose), couldn't convince the ref otherwise, who pointed out that Mike had indeed broken off early.

8/10

Daz is relatively new to the club, but everyone could see he is not new to the game. Lovely lines of running, deft little kicks behind the backs into space and tackling that shows his Rugby League heritage. There were some "oohhs" when Daz chased his own kick and found it in the hands of the Veseyan's full back who then tried to run through Daz. He didn't manage, and didn't do that again.

8/10

Evergreen showed that you never lose it. From the kickoffs we knew things were on track. The drop outs went so high that the whole team had time to saunter upfield and compete for the ball. Sadly Nick had a lot of these to do......and what was with the green socks ?

We struggled in defence with the all of the Veseyan backs from 11-15 appearing outside Nick, but his ability to get in the way of their rampaging centres and rumbling flankers, bought us precious time. Always smiling, always happy, but he has had a few knocks to the head and can probably hide his own Easter eggs.

8/10

Paul was our youngest player at 38 and relished his jaunt on the wing. Always made good decisions in defence and in attack. In the latter we found that we could still pass the ball faster than we could support the player we passed it to, so by the time Paul got the ball, he was alone, with only three or four Veseyans for company. So he kicked; and showed he had the distance of Jonny and the luck of Ronan.

8/10

Yes Toddy scored again, and our strategy in the backs was the same as it has been from 1997 to 2008 - give the ball to Toddy and see what happens. Still jinking, still tackling, still bald, still wondering why the back row didn't know he was going blind. He kicked the ball today too (okay it was loose on the floor, but it was a kick nonetheless). Thinks deep and hard about the game in intellectualised the match at half time by maing insightful observations like "why don't you see white dog poo anymore".

6/10

Did like the first few tackles, didn't like missing the rest. Did like the passes from Daz, didn't like having my left testicle squeezed by Fran ("I didn't know it was yours" - WTF ?). Did like the tap tackle on the Veseyans #8, didn't like him booting me in the head as he fell. Did like my first game in 5 years, didn't like getting up this morning.

8/10

Rich is also new to BRFC and struggled to know when we were going to run, kick or pass. None of us really know either but have learnt to hide this ignorance. He learnt very quickly though - don't ask Gareth what's going on, and never try to follow Toddy. He often found himself with the same dilemma as Paul Betts - i.e. one of him defending against lots of Veseyan players. He always took one man out and made sure the damage was limited. Best looking winger of the game.

8/10

Granty was our other baby, and insisted on playing full back (just as well because we'd lost Kev Denver and Dale Hutchison). Sat deep all game and prevented the Veseyans kicking at us, but this meant that we were always short in the line and their three-quarters worked well together, making up most of the scoring. Crap day to play 15 but still smiled when we were 50 points adrift.

SUBSTITUTES

We had rolling subs all game which would have been great if we had heaps of subs, but we didn't. Fortunately we survived without injury or exhaustion and kept 15 on the field at all times.

8/10

Dean came on for Fran and within a few minutes had shown his prowess in the front row, thrusting away. He carried on in the breakdown, although his counter rucking caused a little difference of opinion and a small scuffle ensued. I ran over to help Dean but by the time I got there, they had stopped, made up, had just finished their second cup of tea and had eaten all the cake.

Fradg relished the front row work, especially as our scrums were awesome all day long. We pushed them left, we pushed them right and just for the hell of it sometimes we pushed straight. Everyone in the pack walked off the field knowing they had won their own private battle and it was a joy to watch.

8/10

Malcolm (like Dean) has played first team rugby this season which is why we asked them to start on the bench. Malcolm ran about the field, carrying, lifting, tackling, ripping, pushing, and flanking ! He enjoyed the one-sided freedom of the openside and harried the scrum half on every occasion.

So that was it. A great day out for a great bunch of blokes. We all went on the field smiling and all came off smiling and this will be the first of a few games for the Veterans. Next time we will need to make sure we have the post match festivities (and coach home) are organised because the boat race, singing songs, and stupid games are where the Barton old boys excel.