On an overcast windy day Whitehall kicked off playing into a strong cross wind. The opening phases of the game were evenly played with neither team in the ascendancy. Old Colstonian’s opened the scoring on the 10th minute when the backs passed the ball down the line to Caleb Grey who made good side stepping runs up the middle of the pitch to score under the posts and converted by Sam Kurtz. Whitehall seemed to be unfazed by the score line and were quickly back in the OC’s half forcing Colstonian’s back towards there own try line, it wasn’t long before mistakes were made and missed tackles resulted in Whitehall going over to score their first try of the game which they failed to convert.

On the 30th minute the Colstonian’s backs made a searing half break through fly half Sam Kurtz deep into the Whitehall half. The ball was passed through Colstonian’s hands to Caleb Grey who was able to leave the Whitehall defense behind once again to go over for his second try which was again converted. Whitehall returned strongly making good runs through their No.8 and backs which Colstonian’s found hard to deal with. The pitch which was very wet and uneven which didn’t help in the scrums and OC’s found a number of their put ins were turned over returning position back to Whitehall. After a period of strong defense the Colstonian’s line finally broke and Whitehall went over the line to get their second try which they converted. At half time the score line was 12 : 14 to Old Colstonian’s.

15 minutes into the second half the OC’s backs scored a tremendous try when good inter-play eventually saw the ball being fed out to winger Tim Roe who dived over in the corner. Sam Kurtz missed the conversion in the swirling wind. The Old Colstonian forwards were now putting their opposite numbers under severe pressure and on the 60th minute their control kept Whitehall firmly in their own 22. However, with a number of decisions going against the OC’s Whitehall were able to push up the pitch to within 2 meters of the Colstonian’s try line which saw a long period of great defensive work from the visitors. The OC’s were rewarded with a penalty after Whitehall were caught coming in from the side however, after Jon Stilwell took a quick tap start the Whitehall defense which failed to retreat 10m took him down and retook possession running back in under the posts. Colstonian’s were expecting the decision to disallow the try as Whitehall had failed to retreat however, the referee decided to award the try which was the converted.

In the closing quarter of the game Old Colstonian’s put the Whitehall side under pressure and the home side began to concede an increasing number of penalties in their 22m. The pressure was getting to the Whitehall backs and a number of changes were made to try and strengthen the defense. Three minutes later Doug Palmer was on the score sheet as the Colstonian’s backs switched play and Palmer cut through to score with Sam Kurtz once again converting. Old Colstonian’s scored their final try of the match close to the final whistle, leaving a final score of 19 : 26 to the visitors giving them a much needed win.

The team now moves onto a home fixture next Saturday against Frampton Cotterell.

Tim Roe was chosen by Dan Acford (cpt) as the man of the match.