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| 19 Apr 2026 | |
| Written by Malcolm Davies | |
| OE News |
Following a narrow, squeaky bum win away to Dursley last Saturday, Es 1st XV, in this penultimate league game welcomed Old Patesians RFC to Fortress Hallen, whilst the Thundercats travelled to the other side of Bristol to play a Bristol Telephones RFC 2nd XV. Hallen welcomed a good sized crowd to cheer on both teams on a fresh but sunny afternoon, knowing that having beaten Old Pats away earlier in the season (26-38) a win today would secure an excellent 5th place in the Counties 2 Tribute Ale Glos league. However, Old Pats had recently enjoyed wins away to Frampton Cotterell, at home to Cinderford II, at home to Cheltenham North and at home to St. Mary’s OB so they were in good form. So, could Es produce a 2nd seasons win over their visitors?
1st XV SQUAD: Callum McCarthy, Fergus Blyth, Greg Ford, Ben Charlton, Tom Bendall, Herbie Gale, Stefan Perunovic, Jakob Harding, Sam Hygate, Monty Nash, Alex CS, Pat Dore, Freddie Williams, Kit Douel, Arthur Mills, James Brooke, Matt Bailey, Tom Cole
MATCH REPORT:
Es kick off facing the Clubhouse. Both teams had a bright start and the first 15-20 minutes were very even as each team looked for any weakness in their oppositions defence. Es’ scrum and lineout appeared to be working well but it was from a ruck where the ball had been taken in by Old Pats squeezed out to the side and the moment was seized upon by Freddie Williams, scooping the ball up to attack down the left wing, well tackled 10m out but was able to pop the ball up to Herbie Gale in support who raced in for a good Es’ try well converted by Sam Hygate (7-0).
This lead was however short lived as Old Pats replied with their own converted try soon after reminding Es that this was going to be no stroll in the park (7-7).
Old Pats No.6 playing at No.8 was doing a fair bit of damage to Es’ defence breaking through tackles a number of times and putting his side on the front foot.
On 32 minutes a high ball was well collected by Arthur Mills who was then taken out in the air by an Old Pats defender. Both players received immediate attention and both were forced to leave the pitch but thankfully looked ok, with Arthur Mills returning to the pitch a bit later. Tom Cole replaced Arthur Mills. A great break from Monty Nash from the restart scrum led to an Es’ penalty and a 40m kick from Sam Hygate was unfortunately pushed just wide of the uprights. Es continued to press and just before half time a 5m scrum to Es saw Jakob Harding break from No.8 and go over to give Es the lead, conversion missed, it was beginning to look like Sam Hygate had left his kicking boots at home!
Half Time score (Old Elizabethans 12 – 7 Old Patesians).
No changes for Es at half time. A scrappy start to the second half where Es tried to kick the ball out but bounced off an Old Pats player who then picked up and Es were punished with an unconverted try (12-12).
From the restart one of the Old Pats props collected the ball and ran 40m but a good try saving tackle from Freddie Williams saved the day.
Es then started to get more of a grip on the game led by a great break from Fergus Blyth collecting the ball from an Old Pats lineout and then Es kick well leading to a 10m lineout and Tom Bendall and Greg Foord combined well to take Es up to within 5m, the Es forwards pounded the Old Pats line but in the end the Ref gave a ‘Held-Up’ decision to Old Pats giving them a chance to clear their lines and moments later more bad kicking of the ball by Es saw Old Pats pick up and score, conversion missed but Es were behind for the first time in the match (12-17).
Matt Bailey and James Brooke on, both having an immediate impact. Old Pats kick out to Kit Douel who looked as if he might score but was stopped just short but good recycling by the forwards led to a Callum McCarthy try and with Sam Hygate's kicking boots back on (never in doubt!) Es regained their lead (19-17).
Somewhere then Sam Hygate was shown a Yellow Card for verbals, but despite being down to 14 men Es’ skipper Pat Dore led well from the restart and then Stefan Perunovic broke well popped the ball to Arthur Mills who skinned the Old Pats defence to score under the posts with an easy conversion kick for Sam Hygate (26-17).
Old Pats were not done though and they kept the pressure on by kicking a penalty to reduce the lead to (26-20).
Old Pats were having a good spell but Es Blue Wall defence stood firm until another penalty was awarded to Old Pats allowing them to kick and reduce the deficit even further (26-23).
This was going to be an exciting if not tense final 15 minutes of the game but OEs determination kicked in, first with another great try from Arthur Mills scoring out of nothing and again the boot of Sam Hygate adding the important two extra points (33-23).
Old Pats were not done though, however in the next few minutes firstly leading by example Jakob Harding ripped/stole the ball brilliantly and Bailey, rallying the troops put in a great tackle before he was penalised for playing the ball on the ground (schoolboy error!!) Matt shaking his head in acknowledgement.
A good lineout steal by Tom Bendall led to a great Es break down the right wing with Alex CS and Arthur Mills exchanging before Freddie Williams ran in another Es’ try which Sam Hygate duly converted (40-23).
Old Pats heads looked to have dropped and their restart didn’t go 10m and so a good Es scrum gave the backs a great attacking opportunity, the ball quickly shipped out to the wing and at pace Alex CS and Arthur Mills again combined well with Alex kicking through to split the Old Pats defence and Arthur collecting a good bounce of the ball to score another great try with Sam slotting the 2 extras (47-23).
From the restart a great steal by Matt Bailey allowed scrum half Sam Hygate to pop the ball into touch for the Ref to blow for Full Time. An excellent Es performance against a well organised Old Patesians team. The win had secured the 5th place we wanted and the Es supporters fled to the bar, well pleased with a good afternoon’s work from their team.
The last league game is next Saturday away to Old Richians who hopefully will field a side having today given St. Mary's OB a HWO.
FINAL SCORE: Old Elizabethans 47 – 23 Old Patesians
SCORERS:
Tries: Herbie Gale, Jakob Harding, Callum McCarthy, Arthur Mills (3), Freddie Williams
Conversions: Sam Hygate (6)
Man of the Match: Arthur Mills a constant threat to the opposition.
There is no match report for the Thundercats game v Bristol Telephones RFC 2nd XV but Thundercats secured a very good victory winning 26-55.
Full League Table below
Very many thanks to Paul “Blakey” Barrington for this report
CLICK for the Old Elizabethans RFC website
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