AEI 26

Shipston on Stour 22

In another nail biting clash AEI started in usual form by allowing Shipston to score an unconverted try. With the Clarke father and son duo and the return of Jamie Barlow making up the front row AEI were able to dominated the scrums pushing Shipston off the ball repeatedly however Shipston made good use of a strong wind to keep pushing AEI back towards their own try line. The breakthrough came when Shipston’s defence pushed forward too quickly allowing Irwann Mauxion to step inside then dash away for a try in the corner taking AEI to a 7-5 lead. Shipston scored next after charging down a kick from winger Nathan Yeung, a lucky bounce allowed them to dive in the corner, however AEI hit back quickly when Jamie Barlow ripped the ball from a ruck mid field passing out for Irwann Mauxion to go over for his second try. After Richard Pinks converted the halve time score was 15 – 14 to Shipston.

In the second half with the wind to their backs AEI were able to use the wind to push forward and then capitalised when Arturas Sungayla caught a loose kick midfield to crash through the loose forwards and then flick a one handed pass out to Jamie Barlow who dragged 3 Shipston players over the line to score giving the lead to AEI again. AEI attempted to push home this advantage, bringing the fresh legs of flanker John Dye on to replace Ian Cockerill however it was a great break, set up by the Shipston centre allowed Shipston under the posts giving to regain the lead with Shipston’s only converted try. With ten minutes to go Captain Smeegle Pritchard bought on impact centre Edward Dunlop who with 3 minutes left on the clock broke through two tackles to go under the posts for the final score of the game, full time score 26 – 22 AEI.

The Jolly Abbott Man of match title went to Tim Udall who said “it was a very difficult game, Shipston played great English rugby but I think in the end, Pinky had his kicking boots on along with our international flair gave us just enough edge to pull off a win”