For the first time in 20 years Colerne put out a 2nd XV on Saturday 23 March as part of a double header with the 1st XV to celebrate Colerne Rugby Day. This was a match played in an excellent spirit with rugby being the only winner. Colerne's team was a mixture of returning Vets, some keen youngsters and a few return to rugby bodies who came together to form a squad of 25 plus which put on a highly watchable match in front of a large crowd. Colerne went up the hill in the first half and managed to put their noses in front in what was always a tightly contested match. First points on the board came when Colerne won their own scrum 20 metres from the visitors line and number 9, John Hutchinson (one of three 9's that Colerne fielded during the match) worked a double switch move in the centres, straight from his 1990 play book, to set Guy Chamberlain up on the crash. Guy was halted by the Trowbridge defense but the resulting ruck was won and Hutchinson fed the ball blind for Mike Gardiner-Catlow to jink up the short side to score. The conversion was missed, as were all Colerne's attempts at adding the extras, due to a strong cross wind making kicking difficult. (5-0)The next score came from John Hutchinson ( one of three 9's used on the day) when the Trowbridge pack were pushed off their own ball at a 5 metre scrum allowing John to pick up and dive over (10-0). Trowbridge, who were competitive throughout, got back into the game with the next score. The ball was fed down the three-quarter line allowing their speedy left wing to break clear and dot down (10-5). This was the final scoring in an exciting first period. Colerne were using rolling replacements, under the direction of Team Manager for the day Darren John, so new faces were constantly entering the frey.
Colerne's players began to breathe more heavily as the 2nd half continued as Trowbridge had periods of dominance. Rich Evans was next to score when he collected the ball in mid-field 25 metres out and then powered his way past three defenders with a really strong run to dot down. (15-5). Next up was Lewis McFarlane, the 3rd 9 of the day, collecting a ball from the back of a ruck 3 metres out and showing some real strength to crash over the line, but don't try it against Frome. (20-5). Colerne might have thought that the job was done however Trowbridge powered their way back into the match leaving Colerne to hang on at the end. They used their largest forward to crash over from a quick tap penalty 10 metres out and added the extras to reduce the arrears (20-12) and with the final play of the match they added another 7 pointer to bring the match back to (20-19).
The Colerne players were bruised but full of enthusiasm to play again and celebrated their hard work with beer while watching the 1st XV play the second portion of Rugby Day. Colerne hope to use this as a springboard to play matches initially on a once per month basis next season.
Tries- M Gardiner-Catlow, J Hutchinson, R Evans, L McFarlane
Squad- 1- A Rolfe 2- J Fry 3- C Hackett 4- J Binnie 5- M Loughlin 6- Ross Willcox 7- O Harding-Wyatt 8- Ryan Willcox 9- J Hutchinson 10- L Lintern 11- R Evans 12- G Chamberlain 13- C Brown 14- R Adams 15- M Gardiner-Catlow 16- L McFarlane 17- B Pike 18- B Bennett 19-S Duncan 20- J Breen 21- S Bell 22- B Moxham 23- R Grieshaber 24- Z Bull
Colerne's players began to breathe more heavily as the 2nd half continued as Trowbridge had periods of dominance. Rich Evans was next to score when he collected the ball in mid-field 25 metres out and then powered his way past three defenders with a really strong run to dot down. (15-5). Next up was Lewis McFarlane, the 3rd 9 of the day, collecting a ball from the back of a ruck 3 metres out and showing some real strength to crash over the line, but don't try it against Frome. (20-5). Colerne might have thought that the job was done however Trowbridge powered their way back into the match leaving Colerne to hang on at the end. They used their largest forward to crash over from a quick tap penalty 10 metres out and added the extras to reduce the arrears (20-12) and with the final play of the match they added another 7 pointer to bring the match back to (20-19).
The Colerne players were bruised but full of enthusiasm to play again and celebrated their hard work with beer while watching the 1st XV play the second portion of Rugby Day. Colerne hope to use this as a springboard to play matches initially on a once per month basis next season.
Tries- M Gardiner-Catlow, J Hutchinson, R Evans, L McFarlane
Squad- 1- A Rolfe 2- J Fry 3- C Hackett 4- J Binnie 5- M Loughlin 6- Ross Willcox 7- O Harding-Wyatt 8- Ryan Willcox 9- J Hutchinson 10- L Lintern 11- R Evans 12- G Chamberlain 13- C Brown 14- R Adams 15- M Gardiner-Catlow 16- L McFarlane 17- B Pike 18- B Bennett 19-S Duncan 20- J Breen 21- S Bell 22- B Moxham 23- R Grieshaber 24- Z Bull
