Well greetings from the Costa del Worksop. The weather in
these last few weeks since my last post has been a balmy barely getting into
single figures and the heatwave is set to continue into the weekend.
My daily sojourns to work in Sutton In Ashfield, cultural
hub of Nottinghamshire, have been interrupted by rain, floods, vanilla drivers[1],
the festive season, a lethal dose of flu and work. I survived the festive season by entering
that state of my being known as ‘grumpy old bastard’.
Despite my illness I cooked and entertained over two
weekends and also survived the annual visit to the in laws and the reactions to
various seasonal offerings.
Due to the weather rugby finished early and due to the
illness the planned visit to the club on Boxing Day was shelved.
Last weekend I revisited a place I have not been for
probably 13 years. The club’s first fixture of 2013 was in ‘sunny Scunny’. Well
if we are being strictly accurate ‘misty, cold Scunthorpe’. I used to visit the place a couple of times
each year when my sister was in Irish dancing tournaments every weekend. I have
always visited it either in the dark or on a train and so this visit was a new
experience, actually visiting for something I enjoyed. My previous visit was
for business purposes. I attended a business conference where the person
delivering it said that ‘If your friends don’t support your business get rid of
them and get some new ones.’ Shortly after this revelatory conference I decided
where they could stick the business.
In this life you will encounter many people a few of whom
will become friends. Of these, a handful will become true friends who may not
always agree with you but will be there for you. I decided that these people
were more important to me than wealth, which was by no means guaranteed.
Anyway back to the rugby. The journey up the motorways was
relatively uneventful, apart from the police car at the entry to the M180 and
the unmarked police car a few miles further on which had pulled over a
motorist. The weather drifted from beautiful sunshine right through to full
blown mirk.
Scunthorpe have a nice little set up. The clubhouse is well
maintained and the pitches had held up well in the weather. I was missing the
staff and bell around my neck. The gentle banter of the Dinno parents was a joy
as I announced that I was recovering from flu.
The match started with the development team. The boy was at
fly half again. The game started at a fast pace and quickly Dinno started to
dominate with strong passing and driving runs. We soon went 7-0 up with a try
from Olly and a conversion from Will (I think). The referee was praised because
he clearly explained his decisions to the players even if those decisions left
the spectating parents somewhat baffled at times. The development team
maintained their style of play but were unable to make another breakthrough and
Scunthorpe despite their pack appearing to tire early on managed to get the
ball out to their backs who had plenty in the tank.
The development team lack the devastating pace of some of
the first XV and so could not catch their opposition. That being said they
played rugby in the right way. At half time the score was 15-7 to Scunthorpe.
In the second half the first XV turned things around and the score finished
38-20 to Dinno.
Normally I would go into detail about scorers etc but I didn’t
keep a track of what was happening. I would also normally comment on the
refreshments available at the club but due to the delicate state of my
constitution I didn’t sample the delights on offer, maybe next time.
The weekly awards went to Kieran, Jake, Ben and, much to my
surprise, the boy. He seems to have taken to the position of fly half and he at
least went home happy. I remarked to the coach before I knew this that he had
come off and for the first time had had no complaints[2].
The boy is starting to settle within the team and is
starting to enjoy his rugby more. He now has a rowing machine to train on and
is at least thinking about his fitness.
Weather permitting this weekend we are against Old Brods a
blast from the Huddersfield days. They like to grind out the results through
the pack and if you don’t try and blast down the middle and use width you
should beat them.
See you beside a rugby pitch soon.
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