On a day with skies resembling those of the great battles for Middle Earth, Dixonians left to go toe to toe with the trolls of Willenhall RFC and record their 5^th straight win.

Willenhall shocked no one with their trademark use of aggression through the forwards, notably their charismatic captain in the second row driving them onward.  The characteristic up-the-jumper approach was soon thwarted by the excellent display of police evading pace provided by Mr PC Madden in the first ten minutes.  Fortunately, the try wasn’t put slightly to the left of the posts, and the conversion was duly made by Robbie Holden.

The back-line magicians, matching their attacking precision with controlled defensive aggression, continued to frustrate the already confused beasts of Willenhall, and it was only a matter of time before they conceded a penalty.  Unfortunately, the ball was pushed wide by Robbie Holden.

Continuing to control the majority of play, Dixonians pushed forward thanks to well secured phase-ball provided by the ever-mobile pack; notable efforts coming from Adam ‘Face’ Seymour and Alex McIntosh.  With good ball being delivered by Tim Hodson, Robbie Holden was quickly able to skip through and provided the Big Dixs with another seven points before half-time.

After weak-looking scrums, the backs attempted to seal the deal before the break with a cheeky little nudge through.  Evidently great ideas do not always lead to great results as Rob Darbyshire failed to drop on the ball properly to score.

First half score:  Willenhall 0-14 Dixonians

Following the half-time team talk, giving Darren Walker the opportunity to take some Evening Primrose Oil, Robbie Holden managed to get some snow on the kick-off allowing the forwards time to turn it over.  Great phase ball then allowed Dixonians to release Rob ‘the rocket’ Darbyshire with an inspirational miss-pass.  The try must have been in the left corner as the two points didn’t follow.

After a phase of aerial exchanges, inevitable line-outs were contested well by both sides.  However, the superior intellect from the lands of men triumphed at the breakdowns resulting in a penalty on the 10m line.  Noting the penalty was on the right-hand side of the field, the wise leader declared an attempt at goal.  Robbie Holden manned-up and stuck it through the up-rights, no thanks to the tortoise-paced tee-carrier.

The period that followed demonstrated Willenhall’s thirst to get back into the game, with several encounters of the physical kind.  Big hits from Tim Hodson and Peter Madden were not quite enough to prevent Willenhall pleasing their Lord Sauron with a try – not converted.

Darren must have ran out of the Evening Primrose Oil shortly after this score; words of encouragement going into a scrum causing him to bellow to the touchline something slightly incoherent along the lines of “make them leave me alone”.  Still, it was nice to have a lowly student in the squad and to see him reunited with his front row debating partner, Simon Habberly.

The emotional engagements that followed must have either annoyed or inspired the team to make the Big Gay Dancing Bear smile once more.  From another beautifully secured ruck, Hodson was able to utilise his little hobbit arms to get the pass off to Holden.  Holden, rather uncharacteristically, smashed the Uruk-hai in the Willenhall back-row and set the Welsh-whippet, Shankland, on course for the corner.  Sadly, no conversion followed.

The dying moments of the game stirred something inside our short-haired Gandalf, Damian Webb, who put in a massive hit on the Willenhall wing who looked to be heading over in the corner.  With the ball tumbling to touch from the hit, the final whistle came to confirm another scalp for Dixonians.

Final score: Willenhall 5 – 27 Dixonians

MoM going to Adam Seymour for another dazzling display in the loose, despite some missed tackles.  DoD going to Robbie Holden after Mr Shankland moaned to the Club Captain that Robbie had set him up the previous week and generally being a nonce; evidenced by trying to shirk his ‘prize’ by claiming a nut-allergy, which was duly over-rule and ignored the ever sympathetic Damian Webb.

Harborne Run was enjoyed by all later in the evening, Tim Hodson being asked for ID in most watering holes.