HOCKEY: Round-up of the week’s action and fixtures

REWHC Men’s 1st XI 4 Worcester 2

After the long trip to Worcester the 1s were eager to extend their winning streak to three straight games. Rugby got off to a strong start but soon mistakes started to creep through as they allowed Worcester to go on the offensive and dominate large periods of play. Despite the best efforts of Danny Bell in goal Worcester were able to muster two goals but good work from Jack Fisher, Tom Robson, Tom Carter and James Steadman with a goal apiece kept Rugby ahead.

REWHC Men’s 2nd XI 1 Bridgnorth 1st XI 6

REWHC Men’s 2nds hosted Bridgnorth, looking to come away with a strong result but unfortunately the goals did not come and the pressure from Bridgnorth broke through six too many times.

REWHC 3rd XI 2 Burton 2nd XI 1

A rare winnable game at home started with 11 Rugby players against 10 from Burton, until a late showing from Russ brought the game’s only sub, relieving Ben Kluth from his stint at centre back.

Strong play from Rugby saw Davo’s goal disallowed because he kicked it through. After a first short corner attempt by Burton was saved, the second found its way high above the crossbar before Russ brought it down into the goal.

Underservedly down to start the second half, Rugby pressed hard and kept possession. A goalmouth scramble almost produced an own goal before Ethan was able to get a touch across the line. Ex-centre back Kluthy levelled and Rugby took full control, with Burton getting green and yellow cards for aggressive play before Kluthy gifted Toby with a goal. Man of the Match: Paddy, for strong play throughout.

Rugby 4th XI 2 Northampton 3rd XI 4

The game started very poorly for Rugby, conceding two quick goals through sloppy passes. However, they managed to claw back some shred of dignity with debutant Ben making it 2-1 by half time.

Rugby attempted to come out fighting in the second half. Unfortunately, with a flick being conceded it was soon 3-1, then 4-1 down after passing it straight to the opposition way too often. Rugby managed to pull it back to 4-2 through Ben yet it still wasn’t enough.

Overall, a very disappointing performance throughout but there were some positives, debutant Jimmy getting Man of the Match through good play at right back.

Stratford 3rd XI 6 REWHC 5th XI 1

The 5s started badly and conceded immediately. Tom W nearly set Max up for an equaliser, but a good save from their keeper denied him. They then doubled their lead, but after Josh had a shot saved on the line, he recovered the ball to set up Tom W to halve the deficit. This sparked Rugby into life, but Stratford then regained their two-goal lead after a Gareth own goal nutmegged Theo.

REWHC started the second half strongly, with Tom W winning a penalty stroke but their keeper made amends by denying Keith from the spot with another brilliant save. After this, Rugby gradually lost momentum, with Stratford eventually scoring three goals towards the end. Man of the match: Isaac.

REWHC 6th XI 2 Northampton Saints 6th XI 0

The game itself was not, by far, the best performance from the 6th team this season, who do seem to be slightly jinxed for the last couple of weeks with injuries. Ben struggled for some of the second half with his recurring Achilles problem, and DT played no part after half time.

Despite this, there were some positives to draw on as well. Ben managed to bag himself another goal. Madoc put in a man-of-the-match performance up front, chasing down everything and making some fine runs. Calum scored a fine goal as well.

REWHC Ladies 1st 8 Harborne 0

The play was evenly matched early on, but Rugby went ahead when Jen fed Kirby for a tap in on the post. The 1sts continued to dominate with some great team play, especially by Sarah, awarded Man of the Match for her relentless hard work and running onto the ball.

Three more goals followed before half time, Stacey scored from a short corner scramble, Kirby was set up by Lucy for the next and Nicki added the fourth from a ball fed in again by Lucy.

Isobel delivered more excellent balls down the right to Nicki in the second half, making it 5-0. Kirby hit the sixth into the top corner and the final two goals of the game came from Isobel. Her first from a ‘back to the injector’ short corner by Nicki followed by a very composed affair dispatching the ball past the goalkeeper.

REWHC Ladies 2nd XI 2 Cov NW 1st XI 0

The strategies seemed to have worked as Rugby went out fighting and created some beautiful chances. The main thing being a really successful press that Cov struggled to get out of. Rugby also won a lot of short corners and worked together as a team. Cov are a strong team and were difficult to get past, especially on a bouncy pitch which meant balls were hard to control. Goalkeeper Ella made several great saves and Emily kept Rugby in the game by making two clearances off the goal line. The goals belonged to Lara and Tash.

REWHC Ladies 3rd XI 1 Nuneaton 2nd XI 2

Rugby started the game with an early goal from Jess after a cross by Sharon. Before half time, Nuneaton scored twice, despite a strong push forward from Rugby.

In the second half, Rugby came out stronger and attacked for 30 out of the 35 minutes but just couldn’t get a goal.

Man of the Match: Grace.

REWHC Ladies 4th XI 0 Sutton 7th XI 2

After last week’s defeat Rugby were determined to be alert from the first whistle. Sutton had a flying run on goal, but Rugby rallied and put on a magnificent attack, dominating possession throughout the first half until Sutton’s forwards had a hint of the ball and shot off down the pitch to score.

Sutton started the second half as a different team and had most of the possession. Rugby fought back with many strong runs by Tilly, Abigail Smyth and Annie but Sutton scored again.

Man of the Match: Hazel Fairtlough for being everywhere on the pitch at the same time.

Fixtures for February 2

Ladies 1st –Loughborough Students away

Ladies 2nd – Warwick Uni 1st – Rugby College 12:30

Ladies 3rd – Olton 4th away

Ladies 4th – Barford Tigers 2nd – Rugby School 10:00

Men’s 1st – Northampton Saints 1st away

Men’s 2nd – Stone 1st – Hart Field 14:00

Men’s 3rd – Belper 2nd – Rugby School 12:00

Men’s 4th – Khalsa 3rd away

Men’s 5th – Olton & West Warwick 4th – Rugby School 12:00

Men’s 6th – Tamworth 3rd away

Men’s 7th – Coalville 4th – Hart Field 1530