Dry brook Veterans 29
Loulé RFC 21
The day began with the captains run, straight from the lounge and into the bar where thirty two pints of the local lager were swiftly dispatched.
As the game did not kick off until five thirty in the afternoon it was decided a tour of the town would be the best way to spend the morning, unfortunately there were a number of hostelries on route and it would have been a shame to pass them by.
The management committee ( Fanny and Old Smiler ) then met to pick the starting fifteen while the players partook of some liquid refreshment by the pool.
The team coach arrived and off we set on the short journey to Loule rugby club.
On arrival we discovered our hosts had staged a rock concert in our honour and to the musical rendition of Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer we commenced our warm up, which naturally involved a couple more pints of the amber nectar.
Old Man Smiler who had picked himself as captain won the toss and elected to play with the wind ( a decision he would later come to regret ).
The game started and a wonderful salmon like leap from the evergreen Vic Jones saw the Vets gain possession and a series of pick and drive rucks ensured the opposition were kept on the back foot in the opening exchanges.
It was from one of these mauls that Old Man Smiler broke to the blind side and embarked on one of his trademark crab like runs across the pitch. The Loule blind side flanker, himself sixty five years old, spotted his chance and crashed into Drybrooks captain sending him into touch and with a tremendous belch and a loosening of the bowels ( his own fault for playing with the wind ) he was forced to leave the field never to return.
The Drybrook forwards were dominating the passive scrums and a fine break by the ex-international under elevens wing forward Peter Stomper Meek led to the first try for the once red haired Richie Roberts, who thinking that this was as good as it was likely to get voluntarily left the field to be replaced by Richard Implants Probert.
The kicking tee was brought on by Sandra Baldwin and Jimmy Ryder stroked the ball easily to left of the posts.
From the restart the hosts began to use their pace and exploit the space provided by Drybrooks aged back three.
It was not long before one such attack was rewarded with a five pointer under the posts run in by their Pacey left wing Ricardo the bartender.
It was time for someone to step forward and take a grip on the game and outside half Simon not to bright Rugman decided he was that man, and spent the next twenty minutes refusing to pass to anyone until he had managed to force his way over the oppositions whitewash.
This time Ryder was successful with the conversion and the Vets found themselves twelve points to seven up.
The next passage of play brought an end to the tour for Buncy Roberts who was hit in the ribs by one of the fireworks from the rock concert and along with his minder Toots promptly booked the next flight home to convalesce at the Wilderness nursing home.
A score out of nowhere followed when Jolly John Jeffs intercepted a speculative pass from the home teams inside centre and fed the ball to England International Stomper who cruised in from distance to complete the first half scoring.
The large crowd were entertained at half time by Tim the voice Baldwin who enthralled them with his rendition of budgie mating calls.
The second half saw many changes and it was a credit to the Vets squad rotation system that so many of them were able to take to the field of play.
The half started with a sweeping move from Loule which saw forwards and backs combining and plenty of missed tackles by Drybrook which was inevitably finished off by Ricardo and with the conversion added the home team now had a spring in their step which was absent before the break.
A towering up and under caused concern as Dave snakey Wilce was positioned to field the kick which he made a complete hash of leaving Ricardo to run in his hat trick and a successful conversion took Loule into what looked like an unassailable twenty one – seventeen lead.
Cometh the moment cometh the man so they say and that man was none other than Clarkey Price who bulldozed his way through numerous attempted tackles to barge over in the corner to edge the Vets once more in front in this topsy turvy affair.
It was all out attack now from Loule as they endeavoured to snatch victory in the final minutes but as has been the case in many of the Vets encounters it was they who had the final word.
Talisman Rugman took the ball on and brushed aside a tiring defence to score his second of the match.
Young Smiler stepped up and nailed the conversion and victory on foreign soil was claimed.
A wonderful evening was laid on by our hosts and with one last chorus of The Sloop John B, Gary Payne was woken up so we could all make the journey back to the hotel to change into our baby costumes ready to dance until the early hours.
The day began with the captains run, straight from the lounge and into the bar where thirty two pints of the local lager were swiftly dispatched.
