Players: K.Pike, R.Parker, S.Pike, O.Brown, O.East, J.Knowling, A.Baldwin, R.Burden, M.Green, J.Edwards, J.Keane, R.Wynn, L.Lloyd-Davies, D.Weir (Capt),H.Froud, J.Trott, B.Appleton, M.Dunn, T.Hacking

Salisbury RFC  10  Vs  80  Apple Growers

Scorers: L.Lloyd-Davies (5), R.Burden (2), O.Keast, R.Parker, M.Green, J.Edwards, J.Knowling, T.Hacking, K.Pike

Cons: L.Lloyd-Davies (3), J.Edwards, J.Knowling

Well if it wasn’t for either side of half time, I think Salisbury were in with a chance. Unfortunately for them, they were simply too old and too slow to keep up with the Apple Growers engine on a cold windy Saturday.

After managing to sign up a wealth of old Brutonion talent for what was billed as a supposedly close contest, 9 players dropped out of the Salisbury side that morning, an act that pretty much ended the contest before it had begun. There was much talk during the warm up of possible solutions and alternative games for playing against 12 men, however none could be agreed. No grower wanted to play against another; especially as pricy wasn’t there… so the only solution was to play against whatever numbers they had.

First Half

So after a bit of a re-shuffle we dropped two players and started the game with 13 men. Now in the 2003 World Cup England were named dads army in a derogative sense and it came back to bite all that stood in there way. However Salisbury’s dads army were less effective and the Growers stormed to an early lead when keast broke through several tackles to score under the posts. In many match reports I have been absolutely slaughtered for my conversions but after the displays in this match I don’t feel that bad. My favorite kick of the day was Keasts attempt when the phrase ‘nothing but air’, probably best describes the disgraceful attempt he made. Even with the comical kicking attempts the growers continued pressure reaped rewards when the try machine Lloyd-Davies went over several times and Burden ‘bit the hands that fed him’ for many years with a brace of tries against his old team. What was very promising for the future of the Apple Growers was the debuts of players such as Trott, Edwards and Lloyd-Davies. Whilst Trott and Lloyd-Davies were running rings around the opposition, it was only because Edwards was pulling the strings and controlling the game with a very cool head. His temperament is good to see and although it is extremely difficult to control a game that is very loose and disjointed, I think his performance was very close to a man of the match performance however when your up against a 5 try debutant, the award can only go one way.

Second Half

Another couple of tries from Lloyd-Davies, Green, Parker, Knowlers, Hacking and big Kev Pike, saw off a particularly lacklustre Salisbury Team who to their credit actually had brief moments of danger when they decided to stop kicking their possession straight back to us.

I think the quote that best summed up our day was when their captain turned to Duncs in a fed up manner saying ‘Hope you enjoyed your training match?’