Sunday the 11th November '07 (A)
                                  
                                     WON 5 -17
                          Tries: K.Pike X2, W.Carew-Gibbs
                      Cons: W.Carew-Gibbs

In the Battle of Thermopylae of 480 BC, an alliance of Greek city-states fought the invading Persian Empire at the pass of Thermopylae in central Greece. Vastly outnumbered, the Greeks held back the Persians in one of history's most famous last stands…..Until now!
The mighty Growers arrived at Milton Abbey School with just 13 men, many of whom had turned up not looking to play 80 minutes, let alone play out of position.
What this group of players achieved on a blustery November afternoon in Dorset was nothing short of miraculous. For all of those who pulled out of the game or were not there to witness it you missed out on an epic performance…rumour has it someone even saw the Captain Kevin Pike break a smile on a match day… and that’s saying something!
Having lost 9 Growers during the week we knew we would be up against it, but nothing prepared us for the loss of a further 5 players on Sunday morning!! When trying to get hold of the remaining players to make sure that we could still get some kind of team out, the Match Manager Will Carew-Gibbs found out that two of his players had apparently been spending that night at ‘Her Majesties Pleasure’ and were now a doubt for the game!
To make matters worse, Milton Abbey had amassed a large squad, and it couldn’t have happened on a worse day with a depleted Growers side and the evil Tweed Army out on force!!
The Milton Abbey Old Boys seem to be keeping the cottage industry of Harris Tweed alive and well along with 1950's barbers who seem to specialise in side partings only…they were everywhere!! The Tweed army shouted, heckled and booed the Growers all game but they couldn’t stop what was ultimately one of the most epic performances in the Growers history.

Team Performance

The message in the changing room was simple, Kevin Pike doesn’t like losing, no matter what the odds are, loosing with 13 men is just as bad as losing with 15. The hurt is the same!
So with that ringing in the player’s ears they ran out onto the pitch knowing they were vastly outnumbered and completely up against it.
The game couldn’t have started better for the Growers, in fact you would have struggled to work out which team was operating with 13 men. The home team struggled to come to terms with the Growers scrum which against all the odd were shunting back a full strength Milton Abbey outfit. For the first 15 minutes the Growers had all the possession and territory but couldn’t come up with the final killer pass to unlock the home teams defence, despite the likes of Oli East (bleeding nose officially counted at 2mins 15 into the game) Fred Lee and Paul Crang smashing it up at every occasion.
It seemed just a matter of time before the 1^st try came, however when it did happen it wasn’t from a Bruton old boy. Milton Abbey who had been starved of possession made an ambitious break from their own 22 metre line and spread the ball wide to their only real weapon in attack and appropriately nicknamed ‘GAS’, who sped away from a couple tackles to score to the left of the posts, naively leaving his fly half with a tricky kick into the wind which he duly missed. 5-0
The Apple Growers heads never went down and after another few minutes of pressure in the Abbey 22, the growers were awarded a penalty about 10m out. Kev Pike assessed his options in his head, ‘we could kick for touch….but there’s only 10 of them standing there…there’s 1 of me….the odds are stacked against them.....try time’!!
The ball was tapped and given to the raging bull who quite frankly made girl scouts out of the MA defence to score the try that got the Growers back into the game. Gibbsy converted the extras. 5-7
And it wasn’t long before the lead was extended further as the Growers returned to the oppositions 22 via a penalty that left them about 15m out. The forwards knew exactly what to do from this position and with Paul Hartley and Tempsy proving to be too classy in the line out the ball was brought down and the forwards began to drive towards the oppo’s line.
Dave Green, at scrum half, realized that all the Abbey defenders had been sucked into the rolling maul and in doing so had left the blind side completely free so he signaled to Gibbsy to go blind which he did and duly dived over untouched into the corner to score the Growers 2^nd try. 5-12
This is when the cavalry arrived. It must be quite a daunting prospect for a team that was struggling against 13 men to have to now compete against 15….especially when as Gobby was running onto the pitch a Grower turned to the tiring Abbey scrum and said, ‘your in for it now lads…he’s just been let out on bail’!! The extra men on the half hour mark enabled the battle weary Growers to take the lead into the 2^nd half. 
Now playing into the wind the Growers were just going to have to keep fighting and not let the opposition get back into the game. With the likes of Balders, injured early on, and Chris Burden frustrating Milton Abbey at every breakdown and Gibbsy, Cranger, Jon Kean, Luard and Hugo S-Tuck, stopping every attack from the opposition backs you could just see their heads go down and all their confidence just ebbed away. With Rhys Wynn now playing at full back the backs were finally playing with a full quota and with no other option available to them, the MA backs just seemed content to kick the ball deep into Growers half looking for territory.
With the game in its last 15mins, MA decided that they couldn’t penetrate the away side through kicking deep or through their forwards so they once again spread the ball wide to their danger men, this time however the growers pack chased down the ball carrier dislodging the ball which set the Growers up for one final attack. With the ball loose on the floor Gibbsy kicked the ball up field and sensing a chasing pack behind him and with 4^th gear not working he dived on the ball and with Dave Green in support the ball was quickly recycled and passed into the middle of the park where the rampaging Kev Pike took advantage of another quickly cleared out ruck from our Orc like pack to trundle his way over the try line for his second of the day. 5-17
That score signaled the end of the match for Milton Abbey and for the remaining 10mins the Growers were happy for Gibbsy to simply kick for position to grind down the rest of the clock which they duly did until the final whistle was blown. What a win!!
It is a testament to the Growers front row that deep into the 2^nd half Milton Abbey actually asked for uncontested scrums because of the utter brutality dished out by our makeshift pack. These are the kind of stories that I could go on about for several paragra….I mean pages; for example,
Balders played with a badly damaged hand, Rhys played with a broken finger, Fred played in the front row for the first time, Luard and Keano were probably not expecting full games let alone in Keano’s case to be switched around all game, Burdi and Keast only wanted 10min cameos because of injury and that’s not even mentioning about 7 players who were playing their second game of the weekend……
I think the point that I’m trying to make is to the 13 people that pulled out of the game in the final week leading up to the game. We know, and the individuals involved know, who had valid excuses and who just couldn’t be bothered to turn up. It’s as if somehow playing for the Growers has recently become a bit of a nuisance!
Do some people affiliated with the Growers believe that all of those who turned up at Milton Abbey had nothing better to do on our Sundays?
K.Pike has a new family to spend time with, Oli East is recently married and could be off doing marital things (should he give his wife the privilege!).…and as I mentioned above several of us had played the day before, yet we make the effort month after month, match after match because we really enjoy meeting up and playing rugby with our mates. I had 5 players from my 1^st XV KSB side out there with me on Sunday, players I didn’t think I would play rugby with again and I really enjoyed it, and that’s the beauty of the Growers but if people are going to pull out of fixture with hours to spare, well I find it completely rude & ridiculous. We lost 5 players on Sunday morning!!! It could have been 7 if the two boys hadn’t turned up midway through the 1^st half. As match managers we can’t be expected to sort messes like that out, and I do fully understand that some people had no option other than to pull out which if fine, I just think you all need to take a leaf out of Froudy’s book.
I rang Froudy on Wednesday to see if he was available for Sundays game and he told me that he had chatted with his doctor and it turned out that he ‘only’ had ruptured his interior cruciate ligament!! ‘I’ll just strap it up Gibbsy, see you there’. Partly because he is on planet Froud and partly because he’s a Growers legend who’s tight shorts would have held the ligament in place, had I not told him that this was in fact a serious injury Froudy would have been there at Milton Abbey. We need more commitment like this!!!
Sorry for the rant but we just don’t want a repeat performance of this match where on the Monday before the game we had 26 players and by Sunday morning we were down to 13!!!!!

Player Profiles - Forwards

Kevin Pike (Capt.)
Another brace of tries for the Bruton Colossus, led the team expertly and ran some hard solid lines all game which kept the team on the front foot. The Legend grows!! 9
Paul Hartley
A great debut. Industrious around the park, never took a step backwards and linked well with Tempsy in the lineout in some blustery conditions. Much more to come from Harts in the future. 8
Fred Lee
Had no warm up but didn’t need one! A marvelous operator on the pitch, Fred hit tackles, turned over ball and propped as if he had been doing so his entire career. Becoming a great Apple Grower. 8
Matt Templeton -Tempsy
Wouldn’t be surprised if members of the crowd mistook him for Simon Shaw on this performance, towering, tough, agile and commanding in the line out and at restarts. A top player who had another great game. 8
Alex Holding-Parsons - Gobby
Strong running, hard hitting and always in support. Like Fred Lee, Gobby is becoming a mainstay on a Growers team sheet. 8
Alex Baldwin
Badly injured early on but battled, sometimes one handed, through the game. You know Balders is having a good game when you never see him. Turned over ball time and time again. A true ‘Silent Assassin’ for the Growers. 9
Chris Burden
The fact he only wanted a 10 minute cameo on the orders of his physio shows you the type of player Burdi is. Cut out of the Richard Hill mould, he tackled, ran, turned over ball and generally huffed and puffed all game. A top effort. 8

Player Profiles – Backs

Dave Green
His vision and control set up the 2^nd Growers try; Greener marshaled the forwards and the breakdown all day. Fizzed passes back to his 10 and made intelligent decisions that had Milton Abbey on the back foot throughout the game. Overtaken his brother as the No’1 choice scrum half on this performance. A future leader. 9
Will Carew-Gibbs
Controlled the game from fly half, Gibbsy scored the 2^nd Growers try after some quick thinking from his scrum half, he tackled hard, turned over ball and got the Growers into good attacking positions with his tactical kicking. Could have scored a second try under the posts if he backed himself - Another good game in a Growers shirt. 8
Paul Crang
Should be the 1^st name on any match managers team sheet. The ‘Iron Curtain’ in the midfield fought hard and never gave up a lost cause which caused Abbey endless problems as a result. A commanding performance. 8
Hugo Stanford-Tuck
The most improved player in the squad. A menacing glint in his eye and always up for a hard game, Hugo was strong in attack and defence. Would prefer to be on the wing but adapted his game well and had another top game. 8
Frank Luard
His enthusiasm rubbed off on those around him. Solid on the wing and never flinched when running the ball back into heavy traffic. Tried hard all day, blamed himself for the 1^st try but never let his head go down or Abbey’s backs through or around him. 8
John Kean
After a long absence Keano was back in a Growers shirt putting in another solid performance. He was shuffled around from wing to flanker and almost to his utter horror, the front row!!.. with no complaint. A team player. 8
Ollie East
A huge character! 15 minutes was all he said his body could handle. In car terms he described his body as a battered old Audi 100. The fact of the matter is that his body performed as if it had a Rolls Royce Engine inside it. An epic performance, another bloody nose, another man of the match award….the Beast is back!! 10
Rhys Wynn
Another soldier for the Growers. Rhys tested his resolve whilst playing with a badly damaged finger. Never really tested but cleaned up loose ball on a number of occasions and fielded a huge high ball deep into his 22 when the oppo were attempting to get back in the game. A solid performance. 8

 Will Crawshaw – Water & Tee Technician Crawsh’s involvement in the game was invaluable to the team. For the first 30 mins the Growers played with 13 men and Crawsh kept the water flowing through the player’s bodies at every available break in play. Found time whilst chatting up my sister!!!!(We’ve talked about this Will) to fill the water bottles up for the second half and his tee work was strong to boot. 8

 Growers Supporters
Special thanks must go to our supporters, especially to the Crawshaws and the Carew-Gibbs families for turning up once again. Thanks to the WAGS, Mrs East, Gibbs, Burden, Balders, Luard, Hannah C-G the Stanford -Tucks and to anyone else I have missed out. You drowned out the Tweed army!!! 10

William Carew-Gibbs