Sat 14 Sep 2024
Old Crossleyans 1XV 24 – 30 Old Brodleians
Crocs denied victory by a last-minute Brods try.
For round two of the new season, it was derby day at Broomfield in the September sunshine. The fixture was one of the most closely contested games of rugby anyone could hope to watch, the result could have gone either way.
Crocs started the game well, immediately putting Old Brods on the defensive and it took just nine minutes for Crocs winger James Johnson to successfully kick a penalty. Old Brodleians fought back from the restart and after a Crocs clearance kick failed to hit its mark, Old Brodleians won the lineout and eventually scored with a neat cross-field kick.
Old Brodleians scored again after their prop escaped from the back of a maul, creating an attacking platform and creative, festival style passing allowed them to score in midfield making the score 3-12.
Things went from bad to worse for the Crocs as Old Brodleians were able to score yet again after a Crocs clearance kick was charged down and fell conveniently in to the hands of Brods winger Ben Barron who had an easy run in to the corner.
A scuffle broke out and the referee awarded a red card to both sides putting both teams down to fourteen men.
Excellent counter rucking by Seb Da Silva within range of the Brods posts earned Crocs a penalty which was successfully kicked over by James Johnson.
The final points of the first half came again from the boot of Johnson making the score 9-17 going into halftime.
Going into the second half Crocs looked an altogether different beast and after positive ball carries from Chris Vine and Ross Peltier, James Johnson was able to add another penalty to his tally making the score 12-17.
Two yellow cards were awarded to the visitors putting them down to twelve men. The Brods defended bravely and the Crocs had three golden chances to score, which they eventually did after Ross Peltier managed to offload to Matthew Beswick putting Crocs in the lead 19-17.
With Old Brodleians back to fourteen men they were back on the attack and a missed penalty by Josh Kelly was regathered by him and successfully drop-kicked putting Brods back in the lead 19-23.
A pass from Chris Vine found James Johnson who was able to break two or three tackles to score in the corner putting Crocs back in the lead 24-23 with three minutes remaining.
The result was sealed however, one minute from the final whistle when a final Old Brodleians attack resulted in a try that the whole Old Brodleians team was involved in, much to the delight of the travelling supporters.
