Aireborough tie Knottingley in knots with blistering first half performance.

Aireborough v Knottingley
The start of the game was delayed by 10 minutes as the eagle eyed referee, who must have been to The Optical Shop in Yeadon (prescription glasses at great prices. Visit them online here -> http://www.opticaid.net/content.php?_p_=7), spotted the metal plate from one of the posts had bared its ugly head above ground and posed real danger to anyone silly enough to fall on top of it. With Iain Craven in the match day squad, there was a real danger that someone would be silly enough to fall on top of it and tackle bags were taped around the foot of the post to make the world’s largest post protector (we probably should have measured it and submitted it to the Guinness World Records – increased awareness of the club!? Opportunity missed.).

Cheered on by large crowd eager to watch some decent rugby before heading down to the club house to watch England destroy a bunch of pansies from North of the Border; Aireborough received the kick off and ‘the fridge’ Adam Jackson made some good yards up the hill before Ollie Catherall, playing at fly half, cleared the ball out of play in the Knottingley half.

Which, apart from Aireborough receiving a few kick offs, is where the ball stayed for the first 20 minutes as Aire rose to Matt Trevithick’s pre-game challenge and played arguably the best 20 minutes rugby of the season. Whilst the score may only have been 10-0 after 20 minutes, the stall had been set as Aireborough worked tirelessly to win breakdown-after-breakdown and restrict Knottingley to crash ball, which was well defended, or clearance kicks which were well fielded by the back three of Kris Brook, Thomas Copsey and Matty Jones.

Ollie Catherall opened the scoring with a well struck penalty as the penalty count creeped up against Knottingley as they struggled to contain a rampant Aireborough. Another penalty gave Ollie Catherall the chance to kick for the corner and allow the pack to set up a maul and further test the larger Knottingley forward pack. The line out was won by one of the trio of leaping salmon, going by the names of Bill Child, Jonny Hiles and Richard Holmes, who won our own lineout ball all day and constantly disrupted the Knottingley lineout and the rolling maul was set in motion. With the ball safer than one of The Optical Shop’s Aluminium Card Wallets or Glasses Tins (http://www.opticaid.net/list_product.php?t=Category_List), momentum was quickly established and the result was inevitable – Aire lock and The Optical Shop’s own Richard Holmes crashing over the line for his third try of the campaign. Ollie Catherall added the extras with a decent conversion to give Aireborough a 10-0 lead after 20 minutes.

Knottingley, on a poor run of form coming in to the match which matched Aireborough’s, did manage to get a foothold in the match with some phase play which gave their winger some space to reduce the deficit to 10-5 with a well worked try. When they managed to keep the ball and spin it wide they did look dangerous; evidence of why they are (actually, were – LOL) top the league.

Aireborough responded well to the Knottingley try and began to go through the phases themselves, with scrum half Stuart Wilson and Ollie Catherall directing the troops like military commanders. If Stuart Wilson could stop getting box kicks charged down we might have a decent scrum half at Aireborough – but at least he keeps us on our toes! The tackles were flying in from both sides and Adam Jackson had a bad clash of heads from one such tackle which left Jacko seeing stars – and left his opposite number with a nasty gash to his forehead requiring medical treatment. Jacko took a rest and was replaced by Will Warrington – one of five replacements who all stepped up to the challenge and were vital components of this complete squad performance.

The continued pressure from Aireborough began to generate opportunities through penalties as Knottingley repeated found themselves on the wrong side of the referee. Jonny Mackey turning ball over for fun particularly annoyed Knottingley as isolated ball carriers were targeted. Warnings were given for high tackles and Knottingley were soon down to 14 men following another high tackle. Shortly afterwards, they were down to 13 – with the big second row coming in at the side of a rolling maul as Aire entered the red zone and given a 10 minute rest by the official.

Aireborough continued to press with lineouts and rolling mauls, drawing defenders in, before spinning the ball wide through the hands of Lewis Barrett and Matt Trevithick to speed merchant and collector of player sponsors Kris Brook to touch down in the corner with the last play of the first half. Kris Brook is kindly sponsored by VANBAR - http://www.vanbarassociates.com/, Cannon Garden Services - http://www.cannongardenservices.co.uk/ and GMex Construction. Ollie Catherall was just wide with his attempted conversion, probably put off by the heated discussion (a.k.a argument) taking place under the Knottingley sticks as they started to implode; and the half time whistle was blown by the referee – with Aireborough leading 15 – 5.

HT: Aireborough 15 v Knottingley 5
Aireborough, under instruction to put in a similar performance in the second half, kicked off down the hill and immediately put Knottingley under pressure, forcing a rushed clearance. The Aire lineout was inevitably won, with Knottingley’s lineout defence at sixes-and-sevens, and the ball was spun wide to the top side but Thomas Copsey was put into touch deep into the Knottingley ‘22m by a good scramble defence.

Knottingley’s lineout was shot to pieces – with a massive overthrow gifting the man mountain Simon Davies an easy catch and drive for the line. Not the smartest move… unlike Smarter Recruitment (https://smarterrecruitment.co.uk/) who specialise in the placement of permanent and temporary personnel in the industrial, commercial and manufacturing sector! Defenders were thrown aside like straw houses in a hurricane as he crashed over to give Aireborough an early score and a 20 – 5 lead. Ollie Catherall was accurate from the tee to extend Aireborough’s lead to 22 - 5.

Catherall was adding to his personal tally for the day with a penalty five minutes later following another penalty awarded to Aireborough. Lewis Eastwood and Rich Lister foraging at the breakdown like hungry honey badgers winning another penalty. Aireborough were leading 25 – 5 with 55 minutes gone on the clock.

Enter Mr. Déjà Vu… It was going well, too well. May I present Mr. Thomas Copsey to the jury? A man who has munched his way through more cheese slices than Mickey Mouse this season…

In fairness to Copsey, it was a soft Yellow Card – possibly an attempt by the referee to placate an increasingly annoyed Knottingley captain and side line. Their season is falling apart at the seams with both Halifax Vandals and Goole catching them in the hunt for promotion – think Newcastle United under Keven Keegan, miles ahead only to be reeled in by Manchester United; “I’d love it if we beat them, love it”.

Anyway… with Thomas Copsey sin-binned for a shoulder charge (I think!?), Knottingley sensed a ray of hope and exploited the gap left on the wing to make yards up the hill. The Aire defence scrambled back, holding them at bay but eventually a hole was found on the crash ball for a converted try to reduce the deficit to 25 – 12 with 20 minutes to go. Game on?

Aireborough bounced back strongly from the concession of the try, debutant Stefan Zaremba came off the bench and stepped up from the Crusaders with some strong running and tackling and the potty-mouthed Luke Exley, on his return from suspension, was in extra-beast mode in both attack and defence.

Knottingley, to their credit, continued to press and tested both the Aire defence and squad strength to the limit. Crusader duo James Underwood and Iain Craven both putting bodies on the line in the final ten minutes but the momentum was with Knottingley who eventually crossed the line for an unconverted try. The lead was down to 8 points as the game entered the final few minutes. Both teams looked dead on their feet and neither were able to find a final score – Aireborough were unable to secure a winning bonus point with a fourth try, but they did stop Knottingley coming away with something from the match as the losing bonus point remained just out of reach.

FT: Aireborough 25 v Knottingley 17
Given the number of absentees this week through injury, holidays and weddings; this was a real show of squad strength against table-topping Knottingley. The guys who stepped up, in both the starting XV and also from the bench, were excellent and made a big difference – something that was lacking last week away at Stocksbridge. The breakdown and set pieces were, on the whole, excellent and the defence in the last 20 minutes was fantastic, despite conceding two tries – on another day that was the late defeat to Mods all over again but everyone put in a shift for their mates and victory was secured.

Those that came to watch on the side lines deserve a big thank you – hopefully it was enjoyable and worth missing the first half of the England v Scotland game!

Man of the Match
In order to keep the player of the season award alive (even though we all know who will win it… cough cough); lock, leaping salmon, opening try scorer and all-round good egg Richard Holmes has been royally stitched up with flanker Jonny Mackey’s work around the park, Gru like features, turnovers at the breakdown and crash ball being recognised by the management as one of the fundamental factors to Aire’s victory.

Jonny is sponsored by Retro Spectacle (https://www.retrospectacle.co.uk/). Retro Spectacle have a passion for providing their customers with high quality vintage and retro glasses. They are also opticians so they can provide any prescription lenses for any purpose - such as distance, reading, sunglasses etc. Follow them on Twitter @retro_spectacle

Jonny is also sponsored by Aireborough stalwart Dave ‘Tank’ Greenwood – one of Aireborough Old Boy’s more handsome, generous and intelligent members. He can usually be found at the bar…