'CRAYOLA STAR IN 60-POINT OPENING DAY THRILLER'

The newly-formed Crayola Rugby team played their part in a 60-point thriller against Agrics I on their debut in the Inter-Mural Premier League.

Crayola, who had to play without prop Ian Spafford, who injured himself in the warm-up nearly earning himself a 'gimp-suit' outing, more than held their own against the champions of the last 4 years. At times Crayola were camped on their opponents line for all of 15 seconds, but unfortunately coming away with nothing to show for their efforts. The Agrics were well organised, and a few lucky breaks enabled them to rack up a few early tries. But this bad luck only spurred on the eager Crayola men, and they came close to crossing the Agrics 20-metre line on a number of occasions. However, these failed to result in a score. The Crayola line-outs were superb, with the lifting of Mike, who insidently was awarded Man-of-the-Match, was well oiled and looked as if they had been worked on in training on Monday night. Despite all this the half-time score was 31-0 to the Agrics.

As the second half got under-way Crayola looked mean. Rob 'Spuggy' Pawsey, along with Ben 'Duckers' Duckworth covered well and both would have tackled a train if it was carrying a rugby ball. 'Private' Andy Magee on the other wing was, however, feeling the force of the farmers, and was totally ragdolled on a few occasions. Another couple of lucky breaks from the Agrics allowed them to cross the line again early in the second half, and the score rolled on to 43-0. The scoreline didn't reflect the amount of effort put in by the Crayola boys, with them winning a scrum against the head, much to the amusement of skipper Mark Holmes. But the howling gale-force wind, along with the mountainous uphill slope they faced in the second half, made it hard for them to cross the half-way line. However, this didn't affect the commitment, and although the score had moved on to 60-0 with about 10 minutes remaining, the defence of Crayola was superb, and on more than one occasion Andy Storey superbly managed to dive out of the way of an oncoming Agric. The Agrics were twice held up over the line, and they came close to scoring on another few occasions, but the superior fitness of the Crayola boys made for a scoreless last 10 minutes.

Credit must be given to the Crayola boys whose commitment to the cause was evident throughout. Despite what the scoreline implies, Crayola put up a fight against a much bigger and more experienced side, and this gives a good foundation for them to build on.

Mark Holmes