Aireborough make costly deviation from the plan away at Goole

Saturday’s match and the season in general can be summed up by watching a few scenes from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Indiana faces a number of obstacles to reach the cavern, guarded by the really old Crusader, which houses the cup of Christ – and bringer of never ending life.

One such obstacle is where Indiana has to spell out the name of God on blockbuster-style hexagon floor tiles to make his way from one side of the room to the other. Indiana Jones knows that the name of God is Jehovah – and that in the Latin alphabet Jehovah begins with an ‘I’. So does Sean Connery, who lies on the floor of the temple dying from a gunshot wound. And yet, in the film, Indiana has a lapse in concentration and steps on the ‘J’ tile, the floor gives way beneath him and he’s scrabbling about trying not to fall to his death.

It takes some imagining, and granted it’s a Monday so it could be a struggle, but substitute Aireborough for Indiana Jones and you have the story of Saturday’s game. Aireborough know how to win games, they know what to do and when to do it. It’s not always pretty, it’s usually effective but there is a plan for the team to follow. Aireborough’s defeats this season have come when, for one reason or another, they have deviated from the plan and leapt with both feet onto the ‘J’ tile and spent the rest of the game scrabbling about trying to get back into it.

On Saturday Aireborough stepped on the ‘J’ tile within the first five fifteen minutes of the game and found themselves 14-0 down through two converted tries. Aireborough actually started the game quite well and the first five minutes of the match were evenly contested as both sides tested each other out in the light rain in Goole. Goole’s first try was the result of them going through the phases following a strong line break and a fat prop crashed over from a few yards out. Five minutes later Aireborough were 14-0 down following a poor kick chase which gave Goole plenty of time and space to give the Gollum like creature on the left wing an opportunity to show Johnno and the rest of the Aire defenders a clean pair of heels, thus keeping his ring intact, and plonk the ball down over the try line.

Aireborough hadn’t even started and were losing a point a minute – an extremely disappointing start given the excellent performance last week away at Castleford. Goole’s runners were consistently making yards as Aire’s defenders failed to put their men down and assert themselves upfront. In previous seasons this would have ended up being a hammering and we’d have lost by 30, 40 or even 50 points – so to ultimately only lose by 19 points it shows how far Aireborough have come over the past 12 months.

Aireborough improved during the rest of the first half, and enjoyed their fair share of both territory and possession. Thirty minutes in and Aireborough were deservedly on the score board. Goole were penalised for pulling down a rolling maul and Simon Davies made the smart move, much like his sponsor Smarter Recruitment (https://smarterrecruitment.co.uk/) always do when placing candidates, taking a quick penalty and crashing over from a good 15m out, skittling defenders to one side like bowling pins. Ollie Catherall, deputising on the kicking front in the absence of the substituted Nick Holdsworth, was wayward with the conversion attempt to keep the score at 14-5.

Aireborough were on the front foot but were unable to capitalise on further opportunities as Goole’s defence held firm and Aireborough made silly little mistakes – either popping the ball in contact and losing the ball or momentum of the attack, or falling foul of the new mauling laws and not passing the ball to the back of the rolling maul.

HT: Goole 14 v Aireborough 5

Aireborough started the second half falling foul of the new high tackle/head contact laws which cost the recently re-signed Lewis Barrett a spell in the sin-bin after harshly being judged to have tackled a ducking ball carrier too high. This was Aire’s 11th yellow card of the season – more than one every two games and has resulted in playing with reduced numbers for nearly one and a half matches. Goole’s kicker was his usual efficient self and slotted home the long distance penalty attempt to increase their lead to 17-5.

Aireborough continued to plug away, both with reduced numbers and then with their full complement of players, but rarely made indents into a solid Goole defence. Aireborough were equally as strong in defence, with Simon Davies, substitute Martyn Booth and Luke Exley putting in big hits which put their opposite numbers on their backsides. Nick Jackson and Christopher Chapman turned over ball in the open and Johnny Hiles nicked a few Goole lineouts.

As time began running down Aireborough threw caution to the wind and put together their best attack – Rich Lister took the large ball and popped to Richard Holmes who, in turn, released Thomas Copsey in space. Copsey was well supported by Lewis Barrett but Goole’s scrambling defence covered Barrett’s run and the opportunity was lost.

Throwing caution to the wind ultimately cost Aireborough with the final play of the match as the Goole fly-half intelligently kicked wide and found his winger in oceans of space to catch the ball and score their third try of the afternoon – which was, of course, well converted from out wide by the Goole fly-half to end the match with the score in Goole’s favour by 24 points to 5.

FT: Goole 24 v Aireborough 5

This was a very disappointing performance and result, which clearly showed on the faces of all 20 Aire players as they got together in a huddle after the match. Had Aireborough put in a similar performance to that of last week against Castleford, this was a very winnable match and Aireborough will feel this was an opportunity missed to finally get a win away at Goole.

However, the fate of Aireborough’s season is still very much in their own hands. They are still to face the current top three in the league (Knottingley, Halifax Vandals and Goole) at Fortress Nunroyd and with just nine league games left in the season, two more months of hard work, good communications and sticking to the plan will see Aireborough over the line.

Man of the Match
I could be honest and say that the options for man of the match were fairly limited due to the number of drivers who were unable to take part in the post-match drinking race. But, in fairness, Cal Lister has put in a number of good performances over the past few weeks so was a deserved winner of the award this week.

If Cal was sponsored by his employer, the North Bar in Leeds City Centre, I could tell you about the fine world beers they sell, or I could plug their Super Bowl party this Sunday, with retro arcade machines, big screens and American style hot dogs…

But he’s not sponsored by them (yet) – so I can’t plug them. In fact, go anywhere in Leeds but the North Bar*!!
*This is not the view of Aireborough RUFC!

Thomas Copsey was voted dick of the day – despite not getting his customary yellow card or doing much gobbing off – clearly his reputation precedes him and they can read him like a book!

Mr Miserable (Nick Holdsworth) was his grumbling best as he poked the charcoal flavoured pizza bread which was presumably a leftover from a wedding buffet the previous night around his plate but the highlight of the post-match entertainment was Simon Davies being voted as having the best hairdo (or was it the worst hairdo!?) and restoring Aireborough pride by nailing his pint – beating Goole’s offering (the dinner lady) who only had a thimble’s worth of beer to drink.

Honour restored, Aireborough left Goole and will spend the week preparing for the visit of Mods to Nunroyd Park on Saturday.