What a gorgeous morning sat (I took a deckchair) watching my sons football team. With the score at 5 -1 and losing, a player in my son’s team, gave up chasing an opposition player who was running towards the goal, the goalkeeper shouted at him as the ball hit the back of the net “what are ya doing why did you stop” the player replied, “what’s the point, we can’t win”. I nearly limped onto the pitch to tell the lad about never giving up but that would have taken far too long to get out of my chair. Anyway, I didn’t have to the goalkeeper said it all “I don’t care if we can’t win, have a bit of pride, you don’t just let your team down like that” he did call him a name as well, but I won’t share that with you. If only that lad could have been stood watching the second half of this game, he would have seen exactly why you should have pride, never give up and don’t let your team mates down, also the thing I constantly speak about with the lads, standards, your own personal standards and that of the team. Giving up is not in our vocabulary, it just doesn’t happen, I go back to Preston Grasshoppers last season, we were losing heavily but still kept pushing forward and defending with everything we had, that for me then was like a win. Just as Bolton kicked off my daughter who does the kicking tee had ran off to get a drink, I thought oh no! she has the tees with her, what if we get a penalty? I shouldn’t have worried, a penalty was awarded but not to us, to Bolton. The penalty was missed and minutes later Ellery Hodson kicked us deep into the Bolton half, as the kick was returned Sam Norris put in a great kick which sent us deep into the Bolton half. Logan Singleton put in a big hit minutes later but for some reason it was deemed high and the referee gave a penalty to Bolton. 7 minutes had now gone and Bolton had been awarded 6 penalties, not good. Bolton were now plotted in or 22, on 10 minutes from a scrum Logan Singleton put in another good tackle and we continued to soak up everything Bolton could throw at us. Dom Anderson stole the ball as Bolton tried to maul from a lineout with Chris Highton aiding him. As we slowly gained momentum and had finally gone to the game plan, Danny Tordoff collected the ball and transferred the pressure with a deep kick 25 metres from the Bolton try line. Some good work from Hamish Rendall won us a penalty right in front of the posts with Ellery Hodson then stepping up to make it 0-3. A positive was, the first time we had been in the Bolton 22 we came away with points, nerve settling points. A set move from us 7 minutes later looked to come off but for some reason it suddenly got disorganised and as we tried to push the ball to rectify it, the ball was knocked on and from that scrum Bolton made a break down the left hand side and it was only good defence from captain Gwil Jones and Geoff Fielden that stopped a try. Danny Tordoff put in the first of many great runs, Bolton just couldn’t deal with his pace and his agility. As we pushed on from that run Michael Jessiman and Matt Lago took us forward, then just as it opened up wide, Ellery Hodson saw the space and put in a great kick 35 meters to the other side of the pitch to send in Gwil Jones for a great try, it was absolute class from Ellery and showed how he is growing in confidence as every game goes by. Ellery converted the difficult kick to make it 0-10. Bolton though kept steaming forward and it was only Logan Singletons lineout steal, Hamish Rendall’s jackling and Ellery Hodson’s clearance kick that kept them out, that is obviously combined with some ferocious defence. As Bolton kept the pressure up the referee gave them a penalty for an infringement at the ruck which made the score 3-10. As half time approached, we were 10 metres inside our own half and Sam Norris danced through the defence and took us 10 metres from the Bolton line, great work from Chris Highton pushed us forward but at the next ruck the ball was turned over and Bolton cleared their lines. Half time came and went and we kicked off the second half that I can only describe as eventful. I’ll be honest I didn’t write any notes after 10 minutes in the second half, I totally forgot with everything going on, so I will do the best I can……

A high kick 3 minutes into the second half saw Gwil Jones put in a good solid tackle which saw the ball spilled and Jake Peake collect and dash 30 metres, only good defence saw him tackled into touch. With 30 minutes to go Michael Jessiman put in a very physical tackle and the referee paused for a few seconds and sent him off for a dangerous tackle. Its hard been a referee you can only just react to how you see it. For example, I saw it totally different to simon who was stood right next to me and differently to someone else, either way he was off and we needed to dig deep as Bolton were again applying pressure. With 20 minutes left and Bolton somehow still being denied a try our defence and unbelievable will to work for each other was tested to the limit. As Cal Gale, was given a yellow card for a high tackle and us down to 13 players it was only a matter of time until we conceded. After Chris Highton had stopped two tries in a row assisted by Hamish Rendall, Matt Lago and Connor Parsons they finally crossed to make it 8-10, with the conversion missed. Again, we were completely pushed back, when we finally got the ball, great runs from Danny Tordoff which sent us deep into the Bolton half and Hamish Rendall now transferred the pressure and with Bolton desperately working to get the ball back, we won a penalty in front of the uprights, Ellery Hodson made it 8-13 and the referee blew the final whistle.

An absolutely monumental second half performance from us in defence got the result we deserved. If only the lad from the school football match in the morning could have seen it, he would have learnt a very valuable sporting and life lesson, NEVER GIVE UP.

Sam Norris was great at scrum half and Chris Highton put in yet another warrior performance at flanker.

Ellery Hodson was named man of the match in what was an exceptional performance in both attack and defence, his control of the game when down to 13 men with Sam Norris kept us controlled. Ellery’s kicking was great out of hands and off the tee.