On a cold and blustery Sunday afternoon on Hyde the Growers gained arguably their most significant scalp to date with a tremendous thumping win over arch rivals Sherborne! 

In a match where the lead changed hands on many occasions and played with the fierce competitiveness of a typical Bruton vs Sherborne match, it says much of the Applegrowers spirit that they came out victorious.  The star of the day along with Burden was undoubtedly 19 year old debutant Dan Hawkes who with an individual 18 point haul superbly marshalled his team.  In a performance with line breaks, touch line conversions, 70m punts and a trendy hair cut that hasn’t been seen in a Growers shirt since Jesse Knowling’s glory days, the Growers seem to have uncovered yet another gem.

It was clear from the outset that this would not be a game that would go all the Growers way.  Sherborne started the match superbly; with the bit between their teeth they instantly put the cider drinkers under pressure.  Firstly they took the lead after some sloppy defence, Bruton replied with a well worked try from Rich Burden in the right hand corner.  Sherborne then stormed to a 17-7 lead with two more break away tries.   It was at this point that captain Kev Pike showed his leadership skills with an inspirational team talk beneath the posts.  He made his point loud and clear, the emphasis was going to be on the forwards doing most the work and taking them on up front. Whilst if the backs were going to stay on the pitch, then they must at least “bloody well tackle someone”.  From that point on even though the Growers defence never looked entirely comfortable against Sherborne’s pacy backs the team attack became much more direct and effective.

The Growers master plan took a monumental blow when 2004/05 player of the season Charlie Price had to leave the field after being on the receiving end of a nasty blow to his head.  The bumps that ballooned up on the Euro-pipe winner 2006 forehead were so big they could have been mistaken for Gibbsys balls!   It’s at times like these that the Growers really look for people to step up to the plate and who better to do the job than Grower’s legend Oli East returning from a mysterious injury layoff.  He worked he socks off and epitomised the attitude that is required if the Growers wish to continue their success.

The growers then added tries through the energetic and enigmatic Baldwin and the brute strength of Captain Pike.  Half time arrived with the match still very much in the balance, it was clear the Growers would need to step it up in the second half.  And improve they did with the pack now providing fantastic platforms from scrums and lineouts  backed up with excellent kicking from Hawkes, they squeezed the life out of the talented Sherborne side.  As the Growers continued to stamp their authority on the game in typical Sherborne style they began to look for cheap shots and snide comments to improve their predicament.  Unfortunately for them this only fuelled the now rampant Growers.           

Tries followed from dynamic young prop Soskin and another from the outstanding Burden at no.8.  The Growers then brought on the reinforcements with Craig Barrow, Duncan Weir and Rhys Wynn and others entering the fray.  Wynn instantly produced a try saving tackle and crowd favourite Barrow scored with his first touch from the back of the scrum.  Unfortunately due to his hefty wage demands we can now only afford to pay Weir for 10 minute cameo performances and so he departed soon after coming on!  If anyone knows of any potential sponsors for this star player please contact the committee.

The match was finally wrapped up with another try from Pike and thus finally daylight was put between the two sides and another win was secured.  Unfortunately there is not space in this report to mention all the outstanding individual performances but a mention must go to the debutants and Matt Green who showed his class at half back. 

Finally many thanks must go to school for looking after us superbly, Marco Laing for an excellent job as Match Manager. Also the referee who I understand was brought in at the last minute and who did a good job in the right spirit and of course all the players and supporters who turned up and hopefully had a great day out.  Long may the Growers continue!