Ashbourne RUFC

A stirring second half fightback saw Ashbourne come within a missed conversion or a disallowed try of overturing a 16 point deficit in their Midland Division Cup match at home against Crewe. The visitors started strongly and deserved their 10-0 lead after 10 minutes, when the game’s opening try followed an earlier penalty. Two more penalties took the gap to 16 points after 35 minutes before Ashbourne got some momentum with Ollie Ruddock’s first try with a couple of minutes of the half remaining. Initially juggling to control the ball from a flat cross-field kick, Ollie kept his composure to score in the corner. The conversion was missed from near the touchline but there was more joy in the same corner when stand-in skipper Mark Broom went over after good hands from Bailey Shaw two minutes later. Ashbourne’s delight was short-lived though, as the score was disallowed for what must have been the slightest of forward passes. So the visitors led 16-5 at halftime, but the hosts were back in the game. A penalty shortly after the restart saw Ashbourne close the gap to 8 points as Crewe had a man sent to the sin-bin for a dangerous tackle. The extra player was used to full effect when Ollie Ruddock then scored his second try of the day and Jonny Riley added the extras, the comeback was almost complete, 16-15. Both sides then missed a difficult penalty shot each before Crewe scored their second try to get a little breathing space. The conversion was missed though so at 21-15 there was still only one score in it as the game entered the final 10 minutes. Jonny Riley scored a fine try from the 22 after a good offload but couldn’t add the 2 points by converting his own score so the visitors once again led by a single point, 21-20, with 5 minutes to go. Crewe almost then scored a third try at one end before Ashbourne almost had their fourth at the other. Jonny Riley again through the defence but this time called back for the merest foot in touch, the visiting referee’s assessor confirming that a small toe had indeed ‘brushed the touchline’. So two tries disallowed, both very close calls that could easily have gone Ashbourne’s way on another day. Crewe held on for the closest of wins and their celebrations at the final whistle confirmed that they knew they’d been in a game, one that they were lucky to win after Ashbourne so nearly came back from being three scores behind. Next week sees 3 matches on the Rec at 3pm, with the first team hosting Ilkeston in a league and NLD Cup double header, the second team playing Shrewsbury and the thirds going up against Belper’s second team. Rugby is well and truly back on the map post-covid and the mini and junior section of the club continues to thrive. Ashbourne scorers: Try Ollie Ruddock 38 mins Penalty Jonny Riley 45 mins Try Ollie Ruddock 47 mins conversion Jonny Riley Try Jonny Riley 75 mins