Uttoxeter RFC

A young Uttoxeter team were very game in defeat to a bigger, more-experienced Crewe & Nantwich side that took their chances well and left the Oldfields side with too much to do as the game wore on and the clock ticked away.

High off the recent win to powerhouse Longton, Uttoxeter fielded a young team in their first outing at Midlands 2 West level. The front row consisted of Nathan Fletcher, Taine Goddard and Sam Woolley. The second row had a family theme, with Tom Hayes and Gregor Hayes lining up together. Joel Walkaden, Joe Gorman and Callum Shaw may up the back row. Daz Banton and Lewis Bain started in the halves as Henry Knox and captain Tom Sherratt started in the centres. The back three of James Gill, Mark Springall and full-back Tom Gallimore completed the starting fifteen. Anthony Davies, Tom Harris and Luke Bebbington filled the bench alongside coach Donald Hayes.

Scrappy would be the word to describe the opening 15 minutes. Crewe & Nantwich capitalised on a couple of early penalties to earn a 6-0 lead, and the lead extended to 13-0 as the Cheshire outfit scored a well earned try with 24 on the clock, successfully converted by their imperious goal kicker. 

In an effort to establish a foothold in the game, Coach Hayes made a change to bring Harris on for Fletcher, shuffling the pack. However, a nasty broken wrist injury to Gill meant that flanker Bebbington had to fill in on the wing for the remainder of the game. 

It took until the 31st minute for Uttoxeter to get on the board, Gorman slotting a penalty after a Sherratt effort had earlier slipped wide. This brought forth a period of dominance for the Town men, and man-of-the-match Knox got the first of his tries as he rounded the outskirts of the home defence, before cutting in, shrugging off 3 defenders and diving under the sticks. Sherratt slotted between the posts and Uttoxeter found themselves 13-10 down, but with all the momentum behind them leading into half-time.

Unfortunately, a moment of madness ensued as the referee, who had an excellent game overall, missed a Crewe & Nantwich player killing the ball and Walkaden took matters into his own hands, leading to a yellow card, ten minutes on the sideline and the Crewe & Nantwich kicker slotting to make it 16-10 on the stroke of half time.

The second half started off with Uttoxeter on top despite their numerical disadvantage, and they made some headway into the Crewe & Nantwich half. Eventually, Knox got his second try of the game following some excellent lineout work from the forwards. Goddard found his man in the air, the maul was set up and rumbled forward before Banton spread the ball to Bain, who tipped to Sherratt before he gave the ball to a steam-rolling Knox who carried four men around his waist and stretched out a try-scoring arm to touch down by the sticks. Sherratt converted to make it 16-17, and Uttoxeter had hopes of another giant-killing.

Those dreams were short lived however, as from the kick-off Uttoxeter imploded. From the restart, the ball bounced between 2 players legs, no-one dropped on it, and the winger took the gift and waltzed over the try-line. As expected, the conversion was good and the scoreline went to 23-17. The hurt continued as a big, lumbering run from a Crewe & Nantwich forward sliced through a tired defence before popping to a supporting player and, with another conversion, the lead was stretched to 30-17, with the game looking like it may become a rout, especially after Gorman was sin-binned for an off the ball charge, and the kicker slotted again to make it 33-17. Davies and Fletcher entered the fray to replace the injured Gregor Hayes and Harris. 

Credit must go to the Oldfields outfit who dominated events from this moment on, showing a characteristic grit and determination associated with the men in orange and black. Knox completed his hat-trick as pressure from Uttoxeter told, a quick tap and he was under the sticks. Another conversion from captain Sherratt meant the game was in the balance with fifteen minutes still to play, 33-24. 

The away team pushed, prodded and probed but to no avail as the final word came to a deserving Crewe & Nantwich side, slick hands putting their winger into the corner, the kicker missing the conversion and the ref calling time on a frustrating, but entertaining, game. Full time score, 38-24.

As frustrating as the performance and result were, Uttoxeter can take a lot of heart from the game. They ran a team that had lived at this level close, and only silly mistakes really cost the side that missed some experience and dark arts. 

Next week, the side can avenge a pre-season defeat as they face Leek RFC at home in another Midlands 2 West game. They will be looking to get their first points on the league table.

Report by Jack Conlon