Wisbech Vets rugby side defeat Holt 3rds at Harecroft Road, with U10 and U11 sides also in action

Wisbech Vets - with a sprinkle of Wildcats - welcomed Holt 3rds to Harecroft Road on Saturday for their first game of the season.

The first points came from the evergreen Raimondas Vinksna, who went over for an impressive try run in from the halfway line.

The Holt defence, as hard as they tried, were unable to stop veteran James Patrick’s break to give Wisbech their second try of the afternoon.

However, a period of dominance from Holt followed. A spell of three tries brought the visitors back into the game as the teams left the field for half-time.

Wisbech’s Joe Brownlow played well before having to leave the pitch with a broken finger, being replaced by Lewis Watling.

Tom Martell’s storming run gave Wisbech the lead again, only for James Patrick to give away a penalty try for a high tackle.

After Holt’s last points of the game, Wisbech finished the day with another two tries under the posts from Dave Brodie and Sean Hawthorne.

With just eight minutes left on the clock, Wisbech had a man sent to the sin bin as Steve Priest’s impressive outing was marred when he was shown a yellow card.

With Wisbech a man short, Holt battled hard throughout the remaining minutes but could not break down the resolute Wisbech defence.

The match ended 32-19 in favour of the Men in Red.

A special mention went out to Dick Cavill, Andy Claydon and Ali Comben, who were on form for the full 80 minutes - with veteran second row Phil Cooper’s tireless work rate earning him the Wisbech Round Table man of the match award.

After the match, Wisbech Vets captain Greg Brownlow thanked all those involved in arranging the fixture and Holt for a fantastic game of rugby.

He said: “Wisbech Vets will be back in the new year and looking forward to another couple of fixtures in the new year.”

The Wisbech 1st XV travel to North Walsham this Saturday for a Counties 2 Eastern Counties league top of the table clash, with kick-off at 3pm.

Meanwhile, last Sunday, Wisbech U10s and U11s welcomed St Ives Rugby Club to Harecroft Road.

For the U11s, the wet weather eased off just before the start of the morning’s rugby - leaving a wet pitch that would challenge the ball handling of the players.

Both squads were reduced in numbers and so a mixed training session followed by some games was the format for the day.

The games saw all players involved with the ball in hand, and there was some elusive running from both sides when they found space.

There was plenty of determination shown in the tackling and the players proved that good technique will always help in bringing an opponent to ground.

The U10 teams agreed to play a series of 15 minute matches, giving all the players lots of game time.

The wet pitch made passing and catching challenging, but the Wisbech players adapted well and used the ‘eyes open and hands ready’ technique to good effect.

St Ives proved to be sound tacklers and well drilled in the rucks.

This brought out the best in the Wisbech team, who completed lots of off-loads before the tackle could be completed and reacted quickly to move the ball away when a team mate was brought to ground.

The Wisbech players combined well in attack, with everyone getting their hands on the ball and making ground when in possession.

There were some good examples of mauling to keep the ball alive before it was passed into space.

Wisbech learned the importance of keeping the ball in two hands to avoid the temptation to fend off a tackle.

The Wisbech tackling improved as the morning went on, with the players using safe and effective techniques.

All the matches played were very even in terms of tries scored.

Head coach Dave Dobson, who coaches both youth sides, thanked St Ives for playing the matches in a great spirit and congratulated all the players for the high level of effort and skills shown.

It was a fine day of rugby and showed there is plenty of promise for the future.