Mods rock mediocre Aireborough

As vandalism of Aireborough's pitch and plenty of rain made last week a no-go, a shuffle of the squad was required as Jonathan Mackey was on England duty and Phil Shopland-Reed was at death's door. Despite that, Saturday was as near a perfect day for rugby in February at Nunroyd Park as you could want, and Aireborough went into this weekend's game with plenty of confidence following the fixture at Mods earlier in the season. On that occasion Aire nilled their nearby rivals as they played down their own slope, a feat that this time around Mods completed in an unlikely turnaround over 80 minutes.

Aireborough started the brighter of the two teams playing up the slope, and following early exchanges won a penalty 35m out on the 15m line. Nick Holdsworth declined the attempt for 3 points and kicked for touch. The lineout was crisp, the drive well set and it could have gone another 30 yards had it needed to, Nick Jackson touching down. Conversion missed by Holdsworth, 5-0.

Aireborough scored again soon after through Adam Jackson, a barnstorming run the writer has no recollection of but is reliably informed it did, so with 15 men on his back the fridge went over from 20 yards. Conversion missed 10-0.

The unfortunate loss of Nick Jackson (dislocated elbow-now recovering in a comfortable chair courtesy of his sponsor furniture clinic: https://www.furnitureclinic.co.uk) and Jonathan Hiles (chocolate lower limb) tested Aire's bench early with Lewis Eastwood's introduction allowing Martyn Booth and Rich Lister to shift left one each across the front row to Tight-Head and Hooker respectively, and James Underwood and Will Warrington slotting into the back row.

Aireborough's third try of the half came following a hack-through and superb chase by Adam Jackson as Mods bobbled the ball on halfway. Showing Messi-like touch, Jacko deftly kicked on again and beat the Mods winger to the ball, scoring a try that was given, then ruled no-try by the official-having not conclusively seen the grounding and with no replay available, an attacking 5m scrum to Aireborough was awarded. Aire's front row had Mods in trouble all afternoon, and with the scrum hurtling forwards, Stu Wilson and Adam Jackson decided they'd finish the job for the Aire eight, Wilson dotting down, and Nick Holdsworth converting, 17-0.

The seemingly insurmountable position was Aire's high point. What followed over the final 50 minutes of the game could have called for a number of clichés, and it certainly was a game of two halves, as Aireborough hit the self-destruct button, Mods were down and out but the momentum was certainly to swing towards the away side in the definition of a see-saw game.

As Mods came forward to Aire's line, Thomas Copsey, (Tom is available for sponsorship; if Mr Kraft is watching and has a few quid spare now his Patriots have done the business, the amount of mentions Copsey has had in recent reports must surely be worth a fiver...) who clearly has shares in Dairylea, caught his 5th yellow in 7 games for unsportsmanlike conduct (laughing at an opponent); the irony of the yellow card evident as it resulted from a phase of play in which the Mods Number 8 took a quick tap while an Aire player was on the floor getting treatment directly opposite.

However, from the following penalty, despite the Mods scrum going backwards up the hill, they used their extra man to go over in the corner. Half time 17-5. This coincided with the loss of Nick Holdsworth (also suffering from chocolate lower limb syndrome).

The halftime talk was forgettable. As was the second half. Mods came at Aire up the hill and Aireborough had few answers. 2 tries and a penalty for Mods in the second half saw them edge it in the last play of the game as they scored a try which was converted, and they ran out 17-20.

Very little of the game was played in the Mods half in the second 40 minutes, and credit to them for their spirit.

Aireborough will definitely see this as an opportunity missed, and wait two weeks to put this right against the high-flying Vandals on 18th Feb.

MoM: this award may from next week onwards be known as the Richard Holmes award. But this week, Adam Jackson, fuelled by Pizza House Pizza (http://www.pizzahousecompany.co.uk/) was everywhere with ball in hand and in the tight.