HOCKEY: Rugby's Over 40s team reach national cup final

REWHC O40s Vets 7 – 2 Bowden

Rugby secured their position in the final of the National Over 40s Cup at Lee Valley with an emphatic win over Bowden.

Rugby started well and put their counterparts under some early pressure, seeing Bowden win a short corner which they forced through Danny Bell’s legs. From the restart Rugby powered up the other end through Chris Graham, his pinpoint pass gave Rugby marksman Dave Odwell the thankfully simple task of slotting into an empty net. Rugby won a quick penalty corner and took the lead through Russ Watling’s fine drag flick. The lead was soon doubled from another short corner, this time put away by a Chris Graham deflection. Soon after, Rugby’s short corner routine were at it again as Watling fired to the right post and Alex Watkins found himself as the next goal scorer. A penalty flick won by Luke Hurle was placed by Chris Duerden. The second half saw two more Chris Duerden penalty stroke goals to complete the hat-trick before Bowden came back from a rebound after two prior saves from Danny.

REWHC Ladies 1st 8 – 1 Cannock

It was a closer first half than the scoreline suggests, with Cannock taking the first goal of the game, however Nicki Siarbawa answered with her first of the game. A brilliant pick from a skyward rebound saw Nicki give Rugby the lead with her second. The second half saw the game open up immediately as Emma Allroggen scored the third, followed by Nicki’s hat-trick marker. Roggie scored her second from a short corner and Stacey and Kirby both managed to find the back of the net. Rugby’s eighth was also Nicki’s fourth to finally put the game away.

REWHC ladies 2nd 2-4 Sutton Coldfield Ladies 3rd

Rugby started the game strongly with great attacking play from mother and daughter combination, Lara and Jess Naylor. Sadly against the run of play Sutton Coldfield scored two well worked goals but we didn’t let our heads go down and battled back, piling the pressure on the opposition. Rugby won a string of short corners and were beginning to lose hope until Amber’s reverse hit was beautifully deflected by the Sutton defence into their own goal because of pressure from Jess N.

Despite some amazing defending including a rare run out of the D from Ella, Sutton Coldfield scored. Lil battled through the field to earn herself and amazing goal which was expertly deflected by a defenders foot. Unfortunately a Sutton short corner found its way into the net to put the score at 4-2.

REWHC Ladies 3rd 4 – 2 Warwick 3rd

An extremely fast-paced match and after Warwick’s first push-back they scored quickly. However, this was soon answered with a great goal by Evie P making the score equal. Warwick then fought back which gave them a 2-1 lead at half time.

Rugby battled strongly in the second half with some solid tackles and long balls, enabling Nadine to score an equaliser making the score 2-2. We had a fearsome defence which Warwick couldn’t get past and we kept out their short-corners. Rugby kept coming back even harder and with some excellent passes Nadine scored again, taking Rugby into the lead with 3-2. Shortly after we had an unfortunate goal disallowed but in response to that Evie managed to get another one past the keeper, leaving the final score at 4-2. A well-deserved win for Rugby.

Man of the Match: Evie P.

REWHC Ladies 4th 1 – 2 Warwick 4th

Rugby started strongly, despite several players moving well out of their usual positions. Kate even managed to get a shot in the goal (disallowed due to an unruly foot). Warwick soon after had a goal disallowed of their own. It was fairly evenly matched in the first half until Warwick slipped in a quick goal.

The second half was mainly an extended series of short corners for Warwick. Solid defending again and again stopped them scoring. Again Warwick then managed to slip through and score a runaway goal. Despite the score line we were still fighting hard. An assault on the Warwick goal won a penalty flick for a defender foot on the line - beautifully taken by Julie.

REWHC Men’s 1st 1 – 13 Loughborough Uni 2nd

The Men’s 1st XI knew a tough game approached at Loughborough Uni 2nd XI but perhaps not that tough. Adam Hewitt scored a consolation goal in the first half as we turned the ball over high & he hit a first time volley well.

Ross Curtis looked far more comfortable on the left hand side of the pitch and deserved his Man of the Match award.

REWHC Men’s 2nd XI 2 – 6 Old Halestonians 1st XI

The poor warm up crept into the starting few minutes with passes not quite paying off, leading to Hales going 1-0 up. However, Rugby responded well with Jacob Till (running the defence ragged leading to an opportunity for Liam Brown to continue his goal scoring form, despite his best efforts to touch the side line after rounding the keeper. That gave the momentum for Rugby to grab a second goal, with Jacob yet again causing a headache, which lead to Harry Clarke being able to set up Liam for his second of the game. Unfortunately, Hales grabbed an equaliser just before half time from a short corner, making the score 2-2 at half time.

Sticking to fashion, Rugby lost their heads and tired legs in the second half led to more opportunities for Hales to overload them and score in quick succession to leave Rugby desperately still trying to score some goals to get back into the game. A penalty flick for Liam saw him on for the hat-trick until the keeper saved it in the bottom right. Overall the final score does not reflect the performance of the team.

REWHC Men’s 3rd 3-1 Warwick 2nd

The game started with Rugby holding possession and hemming Warwick into their own half. Some good saves from Warwick saw the game stay level until Paddy Parfitt was able to force a rebound through. Warwick weren’t all defence though, as they won a couple of shorts which were well defended by Rugby to go into half time 1-0 up.

The second half saw a poorer start from rugby but we were able to stay ahead as a short corner from Russ Watling found Gaz Unett on the back post. A third goal came from a U-turn from Xander Bennett. Looking for their first clean sheet of the season Rugby decided to move Josh Russell into left back who managed to miss an aerial to create a Warwick 2 on 1 which they capitalised on in the last minutes.

REWHC Men’s 4th 8 – 2 Nuneaton 2nd

Rugby started off strong dominating Nuneaton. The highlights were a very calm peat after a very angry callum at half time, Owen finally scoring a goal after consistently hitting the keeper and Alfie for getting Man of the Match for his constant hard work.

Richard Cook scored a hat-trick, with the other goals from Joe Manning, Nick Thatcher, Rob Hedderwick, Owen Armstrong and James Harrison.

REWHC Men’s 5th 4 – 1 Berkswell & Balsall Common

Rugby conceded first, with Berkswell scoring a strike from the top of the D into the bottom left corner. However, they managed to equalise through Keith Slaughter, who put in a rebound on Rugby’s second penalty corner, having hit the crossbar on the first. The 5ths then started to dominate, and quickly took the lead, with Paul Mourant’s pass to Max Murphy finding Man of the Match Harry Kirkbride, who drove into the D at pace and beat the keeper to put them into the lead.

Rugby’s domination continued in the second half, with their favoured attacks down the right hand side allowing Harry to tear Berkswell apart with his pace time and time again. This resulted in a brilliant team goal for the third, with Dave Assheton setting up Tom Watkins for a tap-in. Chris Dickinson then set up Tom McCabe for the fourth, who drove through the Berkswell defence before beating the keeper with a reverse shot.

REWHC Men’s 6th 7 – 1 Market Harborough 3rd

The first five minutes were hard fought. Harborough were attacking, but Freddie Taylor, calm as ever, dealt with it easily. Then, up popped George Spraget and Rugby were one up. The second half saw Archie Houghton find five goals through tomahawks, placing his shots in each corner. A bullet of a shot from Harborough saw them reclaim one back but Ben Hardy on the rebound made the final score 7–1.

Fixtures for Saturday, March 9:

Ladies 1st – Birmingham Uni 3rd AWAY

Ladies 2nd – Leamington 2nd AWAY

Ladies 3rd – Warwick Uni 3rd - Rugby College 1030

Ladies 4th – Atherstone 3rd – Rugby College 1430

Men’s 1st – Beeston 2nd – Hart Field 1400

Men’s 3rd – Sikh Union 1st AWAY

Men’s 4th – Sikh Union 2nd – Rugby School 1200

Men’s 5th – Warwick Uni 4th AWAY

Men’s 6th – Northampton Saints 5th – Hart Field 1530

Men’s 7th – Tamworth 3rd AWAY