A sporting update - Travels with Dinno

Well apologies to regular readers for not updating sooner but I have a life you know. Since my last post on my rugby tour of Britain The Dinno Express has marched on. First up we visited Sheffield. This was always going to be a tense affair and not just because it is always something of a derby match. Last season the first team of Sheffield had the edge on Dinnington overall but in the 'second' team Dinnington had the upper hand. This suggests that whilst Sheffield may have better players (and more of them) but that we had better depth.

The extra edge this season was that three of our former players were in the team for Sheffield. I have no intention of going over well trodden ground as to the whys and wherefores behind it all. We arrived at Abbeydale Park indecently early according to the boy but this meant that I could get a hot chocolate and a bacon sandwich without much of a queue. The bacon sandwiches have improved albeit slightly.

The weather was bright and fine and the conditions looked as though a good game would be in prospect. The game was to be played in three 20 minute sections. This was due to a shortage of numbers on our side I believe.

For the first ten minutes the match was a good solid arm wrestle. There were mistakes made on both sides. Dinno were strong at the scrum and at the ruck and in the tackle. Then a Sheffield player was injured and this seemed to disrupt our mojo. Sheffield ran in two tries which were both down to a weakness in defence. Then the iceman scored a try but again we went to sleep and Sheffield went in 19-5 up. Our former players had varied games and one hadn't learned how to keep his mouth shut.

The second period started and the forwards dominated again then in the last ten minutes Sheffield ran in two tries. Score 31-5.

Then the third period started with our remaining players coming on. Our pack dominated and it was noticeable that Sheffield started to feed back first team players back in. Dinno then won a scrummage against the head. The ball was worked out to the Chessie boys. Dick got the ball in his own 22 and then ran the ball in for a try. With his 200m speed there was only one outcome. Another strong drive from Dinno earned a penalty and Jacob crashed in from inside the 10m.

Dinno won another scrum. The boy, who was playing no8, picked the ball up at the back and then proceeded to run and drive for 10 metres. Following several phases of play the ball was again worked out to Dick who had his brother Alex in support. Arguably Alex was in the better position but Dick managed to get over. His brother was livid and complained that Dick was not a team player. Much to the amusement of all the parents and in particular his dad. The forwards continued to dominate and two more tries from Jacob followed. With conversions from Brendan on 3 of the 5 tries in this period the final score was 31-36. This interpretation of history has been disputed but then you know what they say 'History is written by the winners'. Quote of the day was from Barney who summarised our day as 'Our wankers are better than their wankers'.

The following week we were visited at Lodge Lane by Scunthorpe. The first half was not very pretty and Scunthorpe snatched a try to lead 0-5. After half time things livened up a bit. We got a try through either Angus/Alex. 5-5.  Then after a mortuary pass by our backs (it was so bad it bypassed the ambulance) Scunthorpe ran in an interception. As ever our forwards dominated and created chances. Angus finished with two tries on the day with one from new kid on the block Alex to leave a final score of Dinno 19 - 12 Scunthorpe.

Season so far is Played 3 won 2 drawn 0 Lost 1.

Next up we have an emotional return to where our rugby journey started. Huddersfield.