Warwick Finish With A Bang
So Varsity 2016 came to a close at the Ricoh Arena, in what ended up being a colossal tussle between Warwick and Cov's rugby teams for supremacy. By that point in the day, Warwick had already sewn up Varsity once again, by 40 points to 30, following superb displays on Saturday by the hockey, fencing, athletics and golf teams, as well as women's basketball and rugby, not to mention the amazing ultimate frisbee teams, and on Sunday, special mention to women's futsal whose 14-0 win over Cov stands as one of the most humiliating in modern memory, not to mention some smashing performances in the water polo and badminton.
The football was by all accounts an ill-tempered affair, with lots of yellow cards, three penalties and a ton of passion from both sides. The Cov team and supporters were proper wind up merchants, no doubt looking to get some revenge for their horrendous mid-week thrashing at the hands of Dre, and things threatened to boil over after the final whistle, but ultimately, a bit of rivalry is exactly what Varsity is about and you could see what it meant to everyone on the pitch, even safe in the knowledge that Varsity was already over, as women's futsal and water polo results trickled in before kick-off to secure a Warwick victory. Cov's victory on the day, 3-0, two of them pens, ended up meaning little, but the Warwick lads were clearly frustrated, as it meant a lot to them to win. If nothing else, it's cracking to see Sports Officer Alex Roberts throwing himself into tackles.
But the rugby was where it was really at, as supporters in blue and red packed themselves into the Ricoh Arena to witness the culmination of Varsity 2016, and with each of Warwick's previous three live broadcasts resulting in defeat, there was a real sense of nerves in the WTV/RaW box that we might not see our boys pull off a result.
The rugby was every bit as hard-fought, nerve-wracking and intense as the rest of Varsity, with Coventry performing much stronger than anyone could have expected, giving their all, but ultimately, falling short, as a Warwick try off the last play of the match (much to the chagrin of the cheering Cov supporters who'd made the mistake of thinking that the game had already finished) secured a 22-20 win for the boys in red. It was a tense, tense match, as Warwick scored the opening try to move 5-3 in front after an early Cov penalty, from a position where they really should have scored a converted try in front of the posts, but not for the first time that evening, a Cov player saw the glory for himself and ran for the line, rather than playing a simple pass that would have guaranteed a try.
But Cov fought back to move 10-5 ahead before half time with a converted try and from there, Warwick needed to up their game, as very few could argue that Cov didn't deserve to be winning at the break. But Warwick came out in the second half rejuvenated and were able to go over to level the scores at 10-10 with their second try. There were several kicks missed on both sides, as the quality of rugby was very, very scrappy, before Cov moved back in front with another try to make it 15-10, before Warwick's strength in the forwards came into play, and they were able to bundle over the line, before finally converting a kick to make it 17-15.
Again, Cov came back, but again a missed conversion failed them, and with the score at 20-17, and Warwick pressing in the dying seconds, they kicked for the corner rather than go for the three points to level the match. And when the referee blew his whistle, the Coventry fans, thinking that the match was over, celebrated like mad, even as one of their own was escorted out by security.
But the referee had given a scrum to Warwick, from which the boys, down to 14 men, charged over the line with the very last play, and even though they missed the conversion, it was 22-20 to Warwick, and Coventry were beaten. Up in the exec box, we were losing it, Stuart Croft was losing it, everyone was losing it.
After a Varsity that hadn't exactly gone to plan for Team Warwick, it was sensational to end on a high, especially having secured yet another victory over our arch nemeses. 26 years and counting, it's a beautiful feeling.
Arsenal Bottle It Again
And another team knowing beautiful feelings right now will be Leicester City, as they took another step towards the Premier League title with a late goal from Leo Ulloa that saw them beat Norwich 1-0 on Saturday, before Arsenal bottled it against Manchester United. There are no excuses for Arsenal, who had almost a fully fit team to choose from, and who left Mertesacker and Giroud on the bench, whilst United were missing Smalling, Rooney and Martial, started with Rashford up front and a makeshift back four. Arsenal's team should have been far superior to United's, yet they suddenly found themselves on the back foot as Rashford put them to the sword, with two goals that from a defensive perspective, probably would have been prevented had Mertesacker been on the pitch. Gabriel's poor clearance cost them the first and a lack of marking enabled the second, before a deflected strike from Ander Herrera added a third.
Arsenal did twice fight back, first through Welbeck who justified his inclusion, and then through Ozil who had another all around impressive game, but the truth is that Arsenal just once again bottled it in a big game when the pressure was on and the title race was there for the taking. Straight after putting Leicester under pressure at the top, they realised that the title was a possibility, it got in their heads and they flopped. Mentally, this Arsenal team have no strength and no spine.
And yes, this is nothing new and nothing groundbreaking, and everyone else will be saying it this week, but that is because it's true and obvious for all to see. It's no less true than it was last year, or the year before that and once again Arsenal have proved that they do not know how to win a major trophy. And no the FA Cup doesn't count.
Spurs, on the other hand, showed the kind of mental strength that a side in their position should be showing, strengthening their own title credentials but also hoping to stay ahead of Arsenal, as well as both United and City, who of course weren't in action this weekend due to the game I shall not mention. Leicester's weekend looked like it might be going very well indeed as Swansea took the lead against North London's other big club through Paloschi, whom I confess to have never heard of before he did score, before goals inside the last quarter of the game from Chadli and Rose turned it on its head and gave Spurs the victory needed to keep their momentum flowing. It's increasingly looking like Spurs or Leicester for the title now, and either way, what a season this has proved.
I'll be honest, not a lot else of interest happening on Saturday in the Premier League. West Brom made sure that Palace continued their standard Pardew slide, Stoke beat Aston Villa, as teams are wont to do, Bournemouth secured a solid point away from home that inches them further clear of trouble as Norwich and Sunderland lost (the latter a disappointing but predictable result away at West Ham), and Chelsea continued their resurgent form with a surprising victory away at an in-form Southampton, but nothing that will massively affect either end of the table, with the top 4 almost secure and no major plays made by any of the bottom four or five teams.
The Hard and Fast Section
- Leamington secured a decent 1-1 draw.
- Messi scored again. Barca won again. Hit repeat.
- Kante out for two games. Could be huge.
- And Everton were bought by Farhad Moshiri. Interesting.
- Wasps pummeled Quinns. It was an amazing match.
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