CLARK'S PACE LEAVES CANNOCK TO CHASE

After a disappointing home defeat at the hands of Eccleshall in round 1 it was time for Rugeley to get their league campaign on track.

It was encouraging to have a squad of 20 players travelling which wasn't always the case last year.

The opening skirmishes on the small of the Cannock pitches were evenly matched. Nick Lyons was playing in the unfamiliar positin of scrum half and it was fair to say him and Matt Keys at stand off took some time to click. Thankfully the Cannock attached were repelled and with Rob Castle imperious in the line out Rugeley began to get the upper hand.

A scrum was won against the head and the ball passed through the hands leaving George Grigg to power to within 5 metres he was tackled and jackled but as the Cannock Defendertried to get away with the ball he bumped into Eddie Rogers who was also in the unfamiliar role of winger. Eddie ripped the baller from the jacklers and fell to the ground to score the first try of the match.

Unfortunately one of the Cannock front row suffered a neck injury in the previous scrum. An ambulance was called and we moved the match on to the larger first team pitch.

The move helped Rugeley who had a more mobile set of back. With Will Peters using his medical expertise to assist the prone Cannock player, our Norwegian flanker Ove Sandau was asked to move into the centres. He did and quickly helped pass the ball through his hands to fellow centre Grigg feeding the charging Rogers to beet his opposite number and score in the corner.

Both tries went unconverted and Rugeley took a ten nil lead. This was turned to 17 when Nick Lyons scored to take Rugeley into the half time break 17-0 up.

Rugeley shuffled the pack at half time. Adam Brindley had been a powerhouse in the second row but was suffering with a bad knee, Richard Hill replaced the charging Rich "Moses" Ridgeway and Will Peters swapped places with Ove.

The half time break seemed to galvanise Rugeley. Baz Newton kept skittling Cannock defenders and powered over to score under the post. Cannock were now playing downhill and employed a kicking game. It was a mistake. Every ball which went up was caught by Ashley Clarke who used his speed to tear Cannock apart. The first time he fed George Grigg to score the first of two tries. This was George's most impressive performance in a Rugeley shirt.

With Cannock backing off Nick and Keysie combined to unlock the Cannock defence both bagging two tries a piece.

The highlight of the day was a length of the pitch run for Clarke who despite a high tackle in the run got up and was delighted to score in the corner.

Special mention to Ade Leake who did a lot of the unseen work at the breakdown and to the returning Jake Southall. The ball seemed to come to him of every kick off only for him to catch it and run straight back at Cannock.

Stu Whittal was solid as ever and Slater kept the defence strong in the second half. Greg Archer kept his temperament and teamed up with Ryan Elstone to ensure the Cannock scrum was creaking. Rob Blount did the same when he entered the fray and nobody moved Kirk in the tight stuff.

A great win to remember. Stafford up next.

Man of the Match: Ashely Vernon Francis Clark (yes his dad is a big Villa fan so gave him a middle name of Vernon to ensure he had those initials-- a fact we learnt today).