St Ives vs. Aylestone St James (Jimmies)
A game of two halves saw two different St Ives teams take to the field, in the first half the spectators were witness to a St Ives team who were forgetful at times in defence, whilst the second half proved that St Ives should have walked away with two points today.
A poor start to things this weekend with two thirds of the St Ives front row unable to make kick off due to unforeseen work circumstances. A return to action for Pete Wood-Eeles and Tim Lumley-Goode at prop with Steve Parkes entering the unknown territory of Hooker provided a starting front row. Despite this minor hiccup, the game started well with both teams holding fast under some questioning attacks. Unfortunately it was Jimmies who hit first. A moment of fogginess from St Ives allowed Jimmies to stroll through the defence and score under the posts. St Ives hit back immediately and mounted a good attack on the Jimmies half, from a penalty 10 yards out Ed Salmon charged the ball up into the middle of the Jimmies pack and good support from the forwards provided Lee Jackson with quick clean ball for the backs. A succession of quick hands found Ollie Moorhouse out on the wing, who took the chance with gusto and scored in the corner.
This was to be St Ives only visit to the Jimmies line in the first half, and unfortunately for the home team, the foggy defence reared its ugly head once again - allowing Jimmies to score 4 more unopposed tries, 3 of which were converted. This brought the half time score to St Ives 5 - Jimmies 33.
A second half saw the introduction of Mel Jessop at hooker, relieving Steve Parkes of his secondment duties, with Tim Lumley-Goode making way. St Ives now playing down the slope with the wind behind them showed the supporters how the team should have played in the first half. From the kick off the St Ives pack surged forward - putting the Jimmies under the cosh from the get go and pinning them back in their own half. The pressure eventually paid off allowing vice captain Dave Williams to cross the line and run round under the posts to add 5 more to St Ives' tally. Jack Blackley successfully converted.
This was not the end of the St Ives comeback, a newly motivated team kept Jimmies pinned back for the majority of the second half, with timely introductions of Jim Lewsam and Tom Milner to the pack keeping the marauding forwards fresh.
Unfortunately it was Jimmies who struck next. A pass not going to hand was to blame; the Jimmies winger pounced on the loose ball and steamed of to the line and despite a grand chase by Ollie Moorhouse, the Leicester man had too great a start on him. This only led to an increase in tempo by St Ives; some excellent vision from Mike Sykes found Jon Paxton in open field. Paxton backed his own pace and rounded the remaining defence to score under the posts - Blackley successfully converted again.
The Jimmies defence tightened up and despite further attacks from the St Ives team, they could not find a way through bringing the final score to St Ives 19 - Aylestone St James 40.
Speaking after the game, Captain Ross Thompson was upbeat over the performance; "If we had played like that last week, Stamford wouldn't have stood a chance, but we mustn't dwell on the past. We must go forward from here and build on a magnificent 2nd half display. We need to learn to start from the first whistle and not allow teams to build a lead - it should be us building the scores. We have seen we are capable of it now and there should be no excuses from here on!"