Saturday 07/11 – National League 2 North (Level 4)
Broadstreet 28 Tynedale 19Admission including programme £6 (one of the few rugby clubs to give over-65 concessions), pre-match coffee and bun £3.50, half-time coffee and pasty £3.50
Attendance – 124
Quite a few soccer postponements around the Midlands following the morning deluge, but the Ostrich is not bothered because today we are due to revert to rugby union and my third visit, over the last few seasons, to the Ivor Preece Field, on the eastern outskirts of Coventry where the local National 2 side, Broadstreet, are taking on far-northerners Tynedale. Tynedale hail from Corbridge, near Hexham, a mere 5 miles from Hadrian’s Wall and over 200 miles away from Broadstreet - it’s worth noting that my last rugby game, played at Luctonians, had put the Ostrich only 10 miles from the middle of Offa’s Dyke, so you can see that the 16 teams in this league are pretty far flung!
Broadstreet is an easy car trip, a fast run down the M6 to junction 2 then five minutes south on the A46, which is the Coventry Eastern Bypass. The ground itself is extensive, with around 6 rugby pitches laid out across the complex interspersed with woodland copses, very attractive, and you’d never think there’s the outer suburbs of a bustling city just ¼ mile away on the other side of the roundabout. The clubhouse is imposing, as befits the HQ of the Warwickshire County Rugby Association, all tiled floors and wood-lined walls up to a vaulted ceiling, and the large bar sports an open brazier which I can assure you is very welcome on a cold winter’s afternoon (although it's not lit today).
The clubhouse and stand - photo taken in 2010, and on the Broadstreet website.
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=broad ... FOyFYyM%3AThe Ostrich wanders up to the bar and espies a basket of buns.
“A ham and tomato, please”
“What?”
“A ham and tomato bun, please” waving at the said basket.
“You want one of those?”
“Yes, A ham and tomato.”
“Well, we’ve only got cheese and onion, or ham and tomato”
“I’ll have the ham and tomato.”
Acquires and pays for bun. It’s a tuna salad ….
Outside, the stadium’s beginning to look a bit faded these days – the electronic scoreboard at one end of the first team pitch has lost its electronics, and the announcer’s station also appears to have disappeared – there were no tannoy announcements today, so more than a few spectators in the stand were caught at least 15 seconds or so into the Remembrance Day silence at the start of the game before they realised what was going on.
Both sides are struggling in the league this season and this game was a bit of a must win for Broadstreet. They duly did so, but the tussle never lost interest, especially in the second half thanks to rugby union’s bonus points system. A winning side collects 4 league points, but also up for grabs are bonus league points, one for either side if they score four tries, and also one for the losers if their margin of defeat is less than 7.
The home side opened the scoring on 5m with a try from Hibberd, whose momentum carried him over after he had been caught just before the line by Tynedale’s Clark. Tynedale pulled level on 15m, but Broadstreet gradually took command and, with three tries under their belt, were comfortably 25-5 ahead at the break, although initially both their handling of Tynedale’s kicking and their own passing were pretty suspect.
The second half should have seen Broadstreet out to clinch the fourth try bonus and they would have done so on 46m when Martin got through the defence and away, but referee Sara Cox ruled a forward pass which must have been a hairline decision to say the least. After that, Broadstreet got themselves into all sorts of a mess, eventually being reduced to 13 men through sin-binnings, and allowing Tynedale back into the game with a Parker try which capping a flowing movement the length of the field. On 69m, Broadstreet’s Chapman elected to kick a penalty to make the win safe at 28-12, but on 74m Tynedale, themselves down to 14 men, fought back with a converted Smith try, exploiting open spaces in the home defence; 28-19.
A tense final period saw Broadstreet unsuccessfully striving for that elusive 4th try, whilst also making darn sure Tynedale didn’t score again and secure a losing bonus. There were chances at both ends, but alas, no further score. Nevertheless, quite an enjoyable game, in the event!
Finally, it has to be said that Broadstreet RFC is not Mrs O's favourite rugby club. On the Ostrich's first visit there, he bought a pair or rugby shorts which he insists on wearing around the house but is not allowed outside as Mrs O has classified them as "indecent". Additionally, when they came to be washed, despite a colour-catcher in the washing load, the red dye from the stripe on the side of the shorts unfortunately ran, and the Ostrich now sports several pairs of pink-patched white vests and underpants ....
.
OK if you’re a 30-ish couple with a young family, I guess; not so sure it would attract oldies like me, somehow …..
I've also taken Mrs O there to have a look at it on one of our day trips out, and we would have stayed for a meal, but it seemed to be mainly residents' parking - a lot of restrictions - so we journeyed on elsewhere.