Broadstreet RFC

After hosting the welsh team last summer Broadstreet Rugby Club in Coventry travelled to west Llaneli to face division 2’s Kidwelly to replay the fixture. Broadstreet travelled with a strong squad of 25 bolstered by a selection of new recruits, the stars of season’s past and a new head coach. Debutants included:

• Ciaran Price – Rugby Lions (hooker)
• Dave Irvine – Rugby Lions (hooker)
• Damien Taylor – Nuneaton (6/8)
• Nick Pratt – Banbury (2^nd row)
• Brett Chatwin – Bedwas (Winger)
• Leighton Clark – Colts (Winger/centre)
• Richard Smith – Colts (Winger)

Kidwelly began the match by utilising their strengths to pin Broadstreet in their own 22 for the first ten minutes, however Broadstreet matched the strong ball carrying from Kidwelly’s large backline who seemed to lack the imagination to unlock street’s defence.

Club captain Nick Thatcher proved that this wouldn’t be the case for the away team when he took full advantage of ‘Streets first attacking position after a few minutes of forward pick’n’goes which trundled the team up the pitch. His quick snipe up the blind easily beat the slow forwards defending the ruck fringes but it was his fantastic quick feet which turned the covering full-back inside out which impressed on-lookers and allowed him to register Broadstreet’s first try of the season. 0-5

The second quarter almost passed without incedent until backrow Chris Dodd deliberately slowed down a Kidwelly attack and he was shown a yellow card 5 minutes from the end. The Kidwelly forwards set up a driving maul from the penalty and despite questions of grounding, the referee awarded a pushover try. 5-5

Kidwelly struck once more before half-time when they took advantage of Broadstreet’s continually poor lineouts. The quick turnover was slowed down by the ‘Street pack but any previous hard work in defence was undone by poor tackling in the midfield and Kidwelly’s inside centre crashed under the posts before the half-time whistle sounded. 12-5

First Half 12-5

For their 2^nd try Broadstreet exhibited some fantastic broken field running with scrum-half Jordan Simpson beating 3 men in close quarters before unleashing new boy Brett Chatwin who managed to link up with his fellow debutant Damien Taylor. The new backrow took the ball full speed and despite having acres of space and lots of support he ran straight at the only defender left, knocked him flat on his back before offloading to Leighton Clark who jogged over the line untouched. 12-10

Chris Dodd capped off his performance with a second yellow card and Brett Chatwin followed him to the side-line shortly after when the referee dubiously deemed his tackle and jackal turnover was not only illegal but worthy of 10 minutes holding hands with Chris Dodd on the side-line. Down to 13 men Kidwelly took momentum from Broadstreet and spread it wide where their superior numbers meant that they were able to create an overlap for the winger to score in the corner. 17-10

Thatcher brought the teams level once agin when he entered the line at speed and broke through the Kidwelly defence to give himself a clear run to the posts, however a last ditch ankle tap brought him down 5 metres from the line. Fortunately good support work from Damien Taylor who was on hand to collect thatcher’s offload from the floor and he touched down beneath the posts. 17-17

Once again good attacking was undone by poor defence as a missed tackle in an unthreatening position allowed the Kidwelly forwards to flood into the ‘Street 22 where they overloaded the isolated fullback to score beneath the posts. 24-17

With a few minutes left Broadstreet piled on the pressure but simple mistakes kept them from ever creating the overlaps they needed to win the game. Broadstreet’s main attacking threats were watching from the side-lines and the game would have been lost were it not for Andy Tee who rewound the years with a quick tapped a free-kick, waltzed through the Kidwelly defence to score a try. 24-24

Final Score 24-24

MOTM – Jordan Simpson

DOTD – Chris Dodd