Aylestone St James 13 Casuals 27

10 December 2011
Midlands 2 East (North)
Aylestone St James 13 Nottingham Casuals 27

4 tries, 2 in each half sealed a highly commendable performance in this league encounter.

Well done Casuals, great attitude throughout, and just reward for your efforts.

Casuals were soon put under pressure, and conceded early ground to “Jimmies”, who set up a series of rucks and mauls close to Casuals goal line.
Casuals’ defensive efforts were not helped by a string of penalties.
And only 7 minutes had elapsed before the hosts crossed for a try.
However from that point on Casuals began to take a bit of control, and they started to play their rugby in Jimmies half.
When Casuals were awarded a scrum on the hosts 22, they easily won the ball, and No 8 Ben Wells powered upfield from the base, and his well timed pass sent Mark Higgins on the way to the try line, although he did have to shrug off some tackles en route, before he touched down.
Although he failed with the conversion, he did later put over a simple penalty, to give Casuals the lead which they never surrendered.
On 35 minutes Casuals put together a well practiced move off a lineout, and Will Drewe shot through in the centre for an excellent try, which Higgins managed to convert.
Just before the break, Jimmies converted a penalty.

The second half saw Casuals up the tempo.
Their tackling, which had been their forte in the previous 2 games started to cause problems for Jimmies, and they reacted to it by trying to run the ball, which only led to more immense hits, none better than Brody Howatson who knocked down anyone who came near him.

When Casuals forwards turned over Jimmies possession midfield, the ball came out quickly to Will Drewe and he deftly flicked the ball onto Howatson. He set off on a mesmeric run through Jimmies defences, and
no-one could get near him as he jinked his way through, before turning on the gas to streak to the line.

Jimmies briefly came back into the game, and they managed to pressure Casuals defences, but some superb work denied them a score several times.
Eventually they managed to cross the line, but it was only a brief comeback.

Casuals again caused more havoc when they continued to press forward, and once again any moves were quickly stopped.
Casuals had several opportunities to score, but it was only when their backs caused the Jimmies ball carrier to drop the ball, that Jonny Morris quickly scooped up the loose ball, and he sent Charlie Bradwell away for a long run to the line scoring close enough to the posts for Higgins to convert.
As a very lengthy second half started to draw to a close, the darkness descended. Casuals were ecstatic as the final whistle blew.

Casuals had been forced into a number of changes for this game due to injuries, and veteran Mark Buckley was drafted in at hooker. Normally a scrum half, having played there for the firsts for many seasons, he showed some of his old talent and grittiness during the game.
Casuals also gave a debut to Tim MacNaughton coming on in the 2nd half on the flank, and he showed that he will be a useful addition to the squad