Bristol Youth Rugby (under 7’s) Vs Bream.

A splendid sunny morning greeted Bristol Youth under 7’s along with the customary heavily bearded men and tattooed women of Bream RFC.

Any match played today was always going to be an interesting affair as the total number of players available to us was only four. None-the-less they were a gallant four comprising of Josh, Evan, Dan and Stan.

After a brief training session both teams were called together. A seemingly unending supply of Bream players bounded up on to the top pitch ready to take on the Fab Four though their apparent enthusiasm and bravado soon turned to tears and tantrums when 5 players were told to don a bib each and join the ranks of Bristol Youth.

After 5 minutes of stern bearded stares and frantic flashes of dragons and rose entwined daggers from even sterner mothers, the five traumatised Bream players finally relented and donned the black bibs; which quite nicely blended perfectly with their already dark kit effectively making it appear (to the innocent bystander) as though Bream were in fact playing themselves.

As it turns out, this is a pretty fair reflection of exactly what did happen.

The game set off a tremendous pace creating a whir of black. Locating the Fab Four was proving a difficult task especially as ‘Bristol Youth’ was largely dominated by 3 Bream Players.

For the purpose of this report let’s call them ‘Jed’, ‘Wood’ and a girl called ‘Shera’; for indeed she did possess the strength of ten men and the speed of the puma.

30 seconds and three tackles into the game a sure fire try by Bream was thwarted by ‘Shera’ as she stood her ground and watched a once fellow Bream compatriot bounce off her and crumple to the floor. As soon as the player was removed from the pitch and replaced, the game continued. Despite this psychological blow, Bream used their remaining 3 tackles well and scored in the corner 1-0.

Bristol re-started with ‘Wood’ passing to Stan. Stan is tagged and throws a good ball to a borrowed Bream player and that’s the last the Fab Four see of the ball on this attack. Further tags are taken until a knock-on turns the ball back over to Bream. A quick pass catches Bristol off guard and an easy try is scored. 2-0 to Bream.

The next passage of play shows great passing from the Bristol Boys but unfortunately the 6^th tackle comes round and the ball is turned over.

This time Dan steps up and produces a stunning flying tackle at pace that confuses the Bream player causing a knock-on. Turnover ball….is Bristol getting back into the game?

A quick pass from Dan to Shera allows her to scream up the wing leaving a trail of carnage behind her as Bream desperately try to stop the inevitable…2-1 to Bream.

On the stroke of half time, Bream squeeze down the line just avoiding tackles by Bristol and secure a 3-1 lead going into the break.

Second half play resumes with an early try from Wood. 3-2 to Bream. Unfortunately a quick counter try by bream increases the lead back to 2. Play re-starts with Dan again teaming up with Shera. A quick succession of passes sees Shera fly over the line again..4-3 to Bream.

Bristol are caught gazing in their glory and let in an easy try to Bream. 5-3 to Bream.

Feet now firmly back on the ground Jed and Wood take control. Jed passes to Wood who tears through Bream only to be tagged 5 yards Short. Wood passes back to Jed who bursts through a tackle. Would Wood get a return pass from Jed? Not on your nelly as Jed powers over the line. 5-4 to Bream. And that how the first match finished.

As match 2 began, the Fab Four were reduced to the Three Musketeers as Evan called it a day. A re-occurrence of a long standing hamstring injury forced an early bath. He was last seen heading in the direction of the bar in search of a cool sharp harp.

Not disheartened by this, our boys confidently strode back out and began to assert themselves more into the game. ‘Jed’, ‘Wood’ and ‘Shera’ had been replaced by 3 other Bream Players which looked daunting for Bristol Youth. Luckily they were replaced by ‘Bill’ Ben’ and ‘Snarf’, (who did not carry the same authority as their predecessors), and were therefore largely ineffectual giving the Three Musketeers a real opportunity to shine.

‘Jed’ now back on familiar soil was already weaving in and out of ‘Bill’ and ‘Ben’. That was until he was flattened by Stan. A seemingly angelic Stan was heard to say to the ref “honest Guv, I was going for his tag”. A stunned ‘Jed’ picked himself up off the floor and remained uncharacteristically subdued for the remainder of the game.

Turnover ball and Dan is off, weaving majestically through the field he suddenly loses grip of the wet ball. Knock-on – play back with Bream.

Bream back on the ball, missed tackles by Bristol result in an easy first try. 1-0 to Bream.

Bristol now on the ball, Stan gets tagged and is left looking for his tag (like a D-Day landing scene out of Saving Private Ryan) as the play continues. Someone from Bream on the Bristol side ends up with ball and scores. 1-1.

Another easy try by the wonder trio of Bream brings the score to 2-1 to Bream.

Half time arrives just as a neat pass from Dan allows a surrogate Bream player to level the score at 2-2

Second half begins with Bristol on the ball (via a Bream player). A quick try is scored allowing Bristol to take the lead for the first time. 3-2 to Bristol.

Bristol then valiantly try to defend their hard fought lead but succumb to the almighty Shera. 3-3.

Passage of play continues with Bream once again taking the lead. Lack of support from the Bristol Boys makes passing hard, but the boys continue to try hard especially given that both teams are wearing the same colours.

Turnover ball as ‘Shera’ is guided off the pitch by Josh. A quick pass from Stan to Dan witnesses a flash of blonde as he tears through Bream to score what would have been a perfect try had it not have been for his unexplainable sudden onset of disorientation resulting in him touching down just over the half way line.

Even though Dan was 30 yards short of the try line, such was his conviction that play stood still as everyone looked at each other slightly bewildered……..is that a try? Even the ref took some time to try and make sense of what had just occurred, finally coming to and blowing his whistle to call play back.

Play resumed with Stan passing the ball to a Bream player. Remarkably Shera missed a tackle and Bristol once again took the lead. 4-3 to Bristol.

Into the dying seconds of the game and Bristol manage to pull out all the stops and defend their slender lead. Well done boys. Not an easy task to play away from home with borrowed players. We’re all extremely proud.