Bosworth battle in vain

MARKET BOSWORTH 20-24 LICHFIELD

Saturday 7th December 2013

Midlands 1 West

Cadeby Lane, Market Bosworth, Leicestershire

After last weeks trip to Coalville RFC I always had the intention of watching another rugby union game this Saturday as well. It was a case of which local side to visit, and with the fixtures giving me plenty of options I narrowed it down to a shortlist of three. There were along with Bosworth, South Leicester and Leicester Forest. 

Market Bosworth play their home games on Cadeby Lane which is on the eastern edge of the village. As you enter there are three pitches, large car park and clubhouse. The main pitch nearest to the clubhouse is railed off on the two sidelines only, with dugouts on the far side and a scoreboard in the far corner. Also there was no hard standing surrounding the pitch or cover for spectators. When arriving at the ground I was not charged an admission fee and no programme was issued. 

The game today was a bottom v top encounter in Midlands 1 West and on paper it should have been a comfortable victory for the unbeaten visitors. Bosworth opened the scoring early on with a penalty before two unconverted tries gave Lichfield a 10-3 lead. The home side got the final score of the first half with another successful penalty attempt. Early on in the second half Bosworth took the lead for the only time in the game. A penalty attempt struck the upright and they gathered the ball to go over for a try which was converted. Lichfield then upped their game and scored two more tries, both of which were converted to give them a lead of 13-24. After a spell of sustained pressure Bosworth finally got a second converted try to reduce the arrears to just four points with four minutes remaining. 

Websites

Market Bosworth

Lichfield

31 photos can be viewed in the slideshow below:

Coalville RFC

COALVILLE 12-47 OLD NORTHAMPTONIANS

Saturday 30th November 2013

Midlands 1 East

Memorial Ground, Hall Lane, Coalville, LE67 5PF

With no football games locally that grabbed my attention I decided to go and try my hand at rugby union photography for the first time. After checking the fixtures on the RFU's website I chose a game in Midlands 1 East, which is one of the regional leagues that sits at the sixth level of the game in England. Coalville are the only side from Leicestershire in this division, with the other thirteen teams are spread across five more counties. They are Derby, Ilkeston and Matlock (Derbyshire); Mansfield, Newark and Paviors (Nottinghamshire); Market Rasen & Louth (Lincolnshire); Bugbrooke, Kettering and Old Northamptonians (Northamptonshire) and Huntingdon & District, Peterborough and Peterborough Lions (Cambridgeshire). 

pitch side view of the clubhouse 

Coalville play their games at the Memorial Ground in Coalville itself and it is located down a driveway off Hall Lane. This opens up to a large car park, two storey clubhouse / changing room building and several rugby pitches. The main pitch nearest the clubhouse is floodlit, fully railed off with dugouts and a scoreboard on the far side. The clubhouse is located on the first floor and is impressive with both bar and kitchen facilities, and a large balcony gives a good view of the action happening on the pitch. There was no admission charge but a 12 page programme was on sale for £1 behind the bar.

On the pitch Coalville were at the wrong end of the table, recording just one win in their eleven league games with only Peterborough below them. Their visitors from Northampton are having a much better season and record eight victories from their eleven games and sat in 5th place. The game went to form with Old Northamptonians producing some impressive running rugby and had the game all but won in the opening twenty minutes, scoring four converted tries and ended the half with a twenty three point advantage (5-28). Following a sin bin for a Coalville player midway through the second half, ON's scored three more tries (two of which were converted) in the space of about ten minutes. The home side got the final score of the afternoon with a converted try late on. 

I went into this with a bit of uncertainty regarding how things would be off the field, but if I lived in Coalville then I could imagine myself being fairly regular at their home games with everyone friendly and welcoming. The game itself was fairly enjoyable for a neutral like myself and I got talking to the ON's photographer which helped pass the time. There is one thing that I find about rugby union tedious and that is the scrum, as it took every one several attempts for the players to get it correct in the referee's eyes. This could be due to new laws that have come into place. One thing that is guaranteed and that is I will be back to watch some more rugby union very soon, and will start looking at the fixtures later on in the week.

websites / social media:

Coalville RFC - official website

Old Northamptonians - official website - twitter

40 odd more photos of the game can be viewed in the slideshow below: