Taking a break from merit league this week, Saints seconds hosted local Rivals Eccleshall 2nds in a freindly fixture that saw two teams put on a very entertaining match for the large group of spectators. The Saints continued their fine form from last week with a resounding 25-5 win. Eccleshall turned with an impressive record so far this season but found themselves up against a saints team full of confidence in their own abilities. Full back Matt Jones opened the scoring  with a well taken penalty before Hooker Seena Boromoond crashed over from close to score his first try for the club . Eccleshall came storming back, forcing the Saints backs onto the defensive. Having weathered the storm Saints once again went forward with some fine rucking allowing Scrum half Colin Brown plenty time to release his pacey backs at Eccleshalls young defense . Eccleshall were still in the game with an unconverted try of their own but once again Boromoond was at hand to score his second and keep Saints noses in front. The game really started to move away from Ecceshall after Saints winger Will Game left the opposition in his wake as he swept in in for Saints third before the win was completed by Justin Lavery scoring the final try and watching it converted by Shaun Whiting .     This week The Saints play host to Aldridge and  Barton under Needwood KO 2:15 at the Riverway Ground

The hard work and increased numbers on the training ground has finally started to pay off as  Saints seconds turned on the style against a very strong Wednesbury side. Centre Carl Butler lead the way with try in under a minute straight from the kick off. A dominiant pack  worked tirelessly all afternoon to provide good ball for the backs with rampaging runs from Dan Jones and excellent work at the breakdown  from Justin Lavery. They  saw the reward for their efforts as the saints backs crossed the line a further four times. Another try for Butler and one apiece for winger Ade Jones , Scrum half Will Melrose and Full Back Scott Keeling who came good on his promise of providing sexy rugby !!.  It was by no means all one way traffic and the defensive capabilities of the team were called on numerous times but only twice did the opposition breach the Saints line.  Full credit to Wednesbury who never gave less than 100% and played a hard, fair game much appreciated by the sizeable crowd of spectators. Man of the match goes to the Ref Phil Farnworth for answering  the call to come and ref the game at 30 mins notice  following a mix up with the original  match arrangements.
 
Final Score, Saints 27 - Wednesbury 13.
 
Next week Both Saints teams play host to  Eccleshall RUFC . KO 2:30 at Riverway

St Leonards 1st XV welcomed travelling side Market Drayton for what was a truly entertaining game. St Leonards had a slow start to the game conceding a try within the first 10 minutes, the saints had to tighten their defensive line to stop the strong runners from Market Drayton from scoring again. Market Drayton proved too strong for St Leonards in the first half using the conditions to their advantage and placing a kick into a puddle of water slowing the ball down, picking it up and scoring their second try of the match and they failed to convert any of the tries. St Leonards had to change their tactics and put some score on the card, a strong attack led by Captain Andrew Keeling led to a period of good attacking rugby but Jim Farrow failed to score the drop goal. The Second half proved to be more entertaining as Market Drayton scored their fourth try of the match and converting it. St Leonards led a more dominant second half playing within the opposition half for a majority of the remainder of the match. A yellow card received by Dave Butler for a multitude of offensive meant St Leonards were down to fourteen men but it wasn’t long before Market Drayton’s had a man sin binned as well for repeatedly giving away penalties. St Leonards capitalised on having an extra man with the return of Butler and a strong attacking run by Jim Farrow broke through the Market Drayton defensive line scoring St Leonards first try. The game slowed down near the later part but seconds from the end Carl Butler intercepted a stay pass by Drayton and ran the whole length of the pitch to score, Farrow converted the try meaning the final score way St Leonards 12 Market Drayton 22.The final score doesn’t resemble how close the match actually was, St Leonards need to improve on their defensive line for next week’s away match at Tenbury.

St Leonards 1st XV proved too strong for their Rugeley rivals on Saturday. The Saints had a forceful start to the game with Carl Butler running in a try within the first 10 minutes. The Riverway side retained possession in the Rugeley territory throughout most of the first half again with Carl Butler and Jimmy Carr adding to the tally. Poor discipline by St Leonards meant Rugeley converted a penalty in front of the posts. Captain Andrew Keeling again leading a line of unbreakable defence meant St Leonards went into the first half with a comfortable lead. The Saints entered the second half on fire with The Butler Brothers dominating, Carl scoring his hat-trick and Dave scoring a well executed move. A further try from Jimmy Farrow meant St Leonards were still in control despite conceding two tries whilst a man being sin binned. With Jimmy Farrow converting three out of six conversions this meant St Leonards won convincingly making this by far the best game of the seasons as St Leonards played simple high tempo rugby. Leaving the game with their heads held high The Saints have to continue their two game league winning streak against Market Drayton on Saturday 12th November.

Final score St Leonards 36 Rugeley 15.

St Leonards second XV  Vs Stone.

 In the first local derby of the season a lacklustre, disjointed Saints second XV  were giving a real drubbing at the hands of a very impressive Stone outfit. Right from the kickoff ,Stone showed real desire to get stuck in and win every ball. Saints inability at the breakdown and the poor tackling allowed Stones new look and youthful backs to start pouring forward and over Saints try line with depressing regularity.    The second half was repeat of the first not helped by no less than four injuries to saints players requiring a visit to A&E, a surprising statistic in what was a clean game played in the right spirit. If saints can take anything from this encounter it will be the performance of the scrum. The pack gave their Stone counterparts a torrid afternoon and the front row of Laird , Davidson and  Lister remained  a handful all afternoon.

Final Score,  Stone 70 , Saints 0

Next match , Saturday 1st October away at Wolverhampton KO 3pm.

St Leonards 1st XV started their cup campaign with a win against travelling side Warley. The Saints had a slow start being on the back foot in their own territory. Warley took advantage and managed to convert a penalty giving them a Three-Nil lead.  St Leonards held possession in Warley’s territory but didn’t take advantage of it and went further down as Warley struck a drive from The Saints twenty-two and drove the ball over the try line for their first try of the match. With St Leonards down Eight-Nil they had to change the tempo of the game and start to play some decent rugby ,they took this into their stride and scrambled back three points from Warley’s poor discipline and Scrum Half Rich Farrow converted the penalty . A break off the back of a scrum from Rich took saints into Warley territory and a good offload set Andy Lester up for saints first try of the match this brought the scores level Ten-Ten. St Leonards went into the lead for the first time in the match as they converted a penalty kick late in the first half. Half time St Leonards 13 Warley 10. The second half saw two yellow cards one of which was from Warley’s number 8, The Saints took this into their advantage and converted another penalty taking them comfortably into the lead. The second yellow card meant St Leonards were without number 7 Richard Lewis, Warley converted a penalty taking them into a three point range. With Warley adding extra pressure St Leonards were on the back foot for the later part of the game but solid defence lead by Andrew Keeling meant Warley couldn’t break through the saint’s defensive line. The Saints ended the game with shouts of joy as they managed to get through the first round of the cup.

The Game ended St Leonards 16 Warley 13.

Next Saturday St Leonard 1st XV travel to Telford for their third league game of the season.

Saints second pack dominated the first half resulting in three tries from outside centre Lucian Moraru, prop Mark Lister and wing Andy Ford, which were all converted by Johnny Round. Changes made by Essington at the break forced Saints onto the defensive for the first time during the game. Despite some ferocious tackling from the Saints backs, Essington scored a converted try. Scrum half Ant Mellor replied for Saints with his first try of the season closely followed by another for man of the match Moraru.
  Essington refused to roll over and they again breached Saints defence as the lack of replacements began to tell on the Saints energy levels. A final drive and some excellent rucking allowed Saints fly half Will Melrose to pick and drive from five metres out and complete the saints victory.

The final score Essington 14 Saints 40

Next match sees the Saints 2nd XV away to Stone   

St Leonards First XV welcomed travelling side Edwardians from Solihull for their first home game of the season. The Saints had an excellent start to the game spending most of the first half in Edwardian territory. Good solid defence led by Captain Andrew Keeling meant that the Edwardians couldn’t break through the Saints line. Jim Farrow converted two Penalties early in the first half this meant that the Saints had some score on the card even though they did take their opportunities whist in possession in the Edwardians half. The first half ended St Leonards 6 Edwardians 3. A hesitant start to the second half meant that the Edwardian winger ran in an early try which was the first of many. Good defensive tackles by the St Leonards backs Paul Donnelly, Jim Farrow and Andy Lester in the second half didn’t give justice on the final score. With Edwardians running in six more tries one of which was a breakaway and converting only three meaning St Leonards had to find a new burst of energy and re-enact their first half performance. The saints kept possession of the ball and added some pressure to the later part of the game showing that simple rugby is key to the game, unfortunately all the hard work from Andrew keeling and his team didn’t compare to the well drilled structure of Edwardians as they ran in an eighth try which was the final act of the game. The Saints left the game with their head held reasonable high as they showed they could play quality rugby against a tough opposition even though the score didn’t resemble how close the high tempo game actually was. The game ended St Leonards 6 Edwardians 49.

The Next match sees Warley visit St Leonard in a cup match this Saturday.

St Leonards seconds started  the new season with  defeat at the hands of Warley. Saints habitual slow start allowed Warley to get their noses in front.  Hard working Matt Game touched down to bring Saints back in to the game. The second half saw Vinnie Rizzo opened his account for the saints scoring his first try for the club after some hard work to make the line. Even with the score at 19-10 with ten minutes to go Saints were still very much in it , until  a break away try by Warley took the final score to 24-10. Although on the losing side, Saints can take great heart from the performance and desire to give their all right up to the final whistle.

 The final score was Warley 24  St Leonards 10

This Saturday 17/09/2011  the Seconds are away at Essington

St Leonards second XV made the short trip to Walsall for the final warm up game before the start of the season and found themselves on the  losing side of  a close fought encounter . A hesitant start and slow reactions allowed Walsall in for an early try . Some strong defending from the saints ensured the score stayed the same until just before half time  when Walsall scored their second try .  Seasoned Capt Spencer Garner gave a  very frank and honest half time talk resulting in  much rejuvenated and focused Saints start the second half sticking to their game plan of 15 man rugby. Excellent backs play from Ady Jones, Dan Grove and Nick Dodd forced Walsall into giving away a penalty in their own 22 . Quickly taken by Saints 10 Will Melrose , the  insuing  drive from the forwards carried Melrose over the try line for Saints first try.  Walsall attempted to reply from the restart but saints heads were up and their defence refused  to buckle again. A period of sustained Saints pressure saw Walsall attempting to clear their lines with a kick. Saints Full Back Matt Jones gathered the ball and ran it into the corner for  Saints second try.

 The final score was Walsall 12  St Leonards 10

This Saturday sees the seconds start their merit league campaign  with a trip to Warley