A Tale of 2 Bloors (well a Bloor and a Bexon)
The Mighty were in town to face Southwell (eventually). Preparation has never been our strong point.
The night previous uncovered a scam that made us seemingly victims of a prank related to the kick off time, the skipper urgently text ALL players (Holmesy) to explain we were in fact kicking off at 2.15, not 1.15 as per prank. All responded as requested to acknowledge receipt apart from Holmesy and Bevis. Ultimately Holmesy arrived an hour early (claiming he’d not received a text) and Bevis not at all…. He called to say he couldn’t play as he was in fact in Tunisia on holiday so couldn’t don the 11 shirt as per selection. We were a man down and in serious threat of having a flanker on the wing.
Then Bloor (the former -Jim) announced his cousin (Jack Bexon - the latter), lived in Southwell and was a Winger….happy days.
The pre-match warm up actually went pretty well and we were ready for the off. Playing down a negligible slope, Modern’s kicked to their opponents and for the first 10 mins kept them in their half. Good distribution from Feasey (you could tell who he was aiming for with his passes and everything!) allowed Skipper Fitton to get the back line moving. Early use of Rollins at 12 led the Southwell centre to moan that we had nothing else, Rollins response was fair by asking why they didn’t just tackle him then? Anyway, a change of plan to miss Rollins to Alcock outside him meant he was free to stroll over without a hand on him – we were off!
The first half continued with Moderns putting phases together, gaining ground and then either knocking on or giving away a penalty which meant Southwell kicked us back to where we’d just come from! There were more tries though, Bloor (the latter) skinned his winger to put the ball pretty much under the sticks, Feasey went over after another strong back move and Alcock grabbed a 2nd (I think?). Gaunt was having a scizophrenic day - playing well at 15 in attack, but as the Moderns place kicker, was having a mare…. The phrase cows ar*e and banjo spring to mind as he missed 4 out of 4 attempts with the boot. …..“I don’t think I’ve got my kicking boots on today”…. “No Piers you may as well be wearing Wellies with how close you’re getting!!” ….A couple of tries by Southwell meant we went into half time ahead but not clear.
The usual half time talk revolved around sticking to our guns and playing the Moderns way to put them to bed. Southwell to be fair came out all guns firing after the break and some good forward play and drives gave them a deserved score. Moderns then manned up and took the game to the opposition. Further terrorising of the defence by Rollins, created another try for Bloor (the latter) who was carving through the defence like Jim McNiven through his post training meal on a Tuesday. Gaunt (the kicker), scored a brace and an opportunistic try from Hirsch meant we were clear. It could have been one try more had Bloor (the former) not morphed in to Shaquele O’Neill when presented with an opportunity following a well placed kick. Sprinting through his attempt to collect the ball included a couple of basketball style bounces and ultimately even we couldn’t complain when the inevitable knock on was called – nice one Jim!
Overall it was a solid performance and an enjoyable game to be involved in, played in good spirit. Strong forward work allowed a good platform for the backs to do their stuff. A mention goes to JP making a strong debut in a Moderns shirt and commiserations to Holmesy who had been at Southwell since 12pm, went on a bullocking run from the kick off, got a hurty ankle, went off and cut a forlorn figure stood by the remnants of Southwells Bonfire the night before, trying to keep warm.
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