We
started off from The Swan and headed for Lockside (Lensbury) down at Teddington
Studios so far so good. We were greeted by Lockside with the news that one
of their players had reached 55 and was calling it a day and they were having
a bit of a celebration game and had around 28 players and a huge touchline
of supporters!
Fortunately, we had wind of something like this and made certain we also had
a few extra players to see us through....in fact we had 18 to start with and
once Dom, after watching Thamesians playing at Marble Hill Park for 10 minutes,
realised he was at the wrong venue we then went up to around the 20 mark at
half time!!
We won the toss which was vital as we then had the sun and wind behind us....within
the first 5 mins after some smart passing Jamie weaved his way through the
opposition to score tremendous try under the post and that set us up nicely.
However, we were up against a very heavy pack, with the guys in the front
row all game weighing in at around the 20 to 25 stone mark. This certainly
caused a few problems with Tom in the front row coming in at around the 13
stone mark.
Needles to say we really had to work in the set pieces and in fact we did
take one against the head, well done Deano, and the score was held at only
2 points in it right to the last 5 minutes.
Our line out play was holding up well with Steve jumping well which did balance
out the set piece problems. I don't think we will come up against such a heavy
old pack for the rest of the season! We tend to have a fast light weight scrum
with good jumpers and this has been a very successful formula for us and there
is no need to move away from this policy.
The loose maul was also well handled by us and when you consider we had around
25 very experienced ex first team players against us and for us to hold and
score tries against such strong opposition was fantastic.
Ross made a blinding run and cut through all the oppo to run in a try from
about 70 yards out and this was a cracker...he was backed up by newcomer Iron
Man 2, Michael Bianchi on the wing
Jamie then went in for another try and Ben converted.
Everyone had a very good game with Hugh stepping at scrum half to help us
out and Ben and Mike B slotting in at No 10. Len had his usual high profile
game setting up many constructive moves and was very unlucky not to score.
We had a few new players down and it was good to see such a good spirit throughout
the game.
Newcomer Michael Bianchi and Nick Kollock both had a good half game. Nick
goes back to Uni but Mike is up for playing on a regular basis...coached of
course by Iron Man Tony!
The final score was 31 to 19 and we all retired from the very windy pitch
to the Lockside club house and then back to The Swan for a couple of drinks
Great game and onward to next week for a home game at Marble Hill Park
Cheers
Colin
