M25 plagues organisation but not the result!!

..that Nick Clegg is starting to experience the Barnes RFC euphoria, which could be useful when he next helps David Cameron with his Latin!!! Had Cameron been aware of all things that are ‘Great’, he would have been able to at least cite the ‘Great’ Harrodians Rugby Football Club in his recent Letterman interview!
And indeed Great Men stepped up to the call to represent the ‘Magna’ Vets!!!!
After another week of valiant persistence on the part of Jane Graham, our fixtures secretary, we found out early on Friday morning that a trip away to Redingensians Rams RFC down in Sonning, Berkshire had replaced our home fixture. This obviously presented huge challenges for many of the Guys to change their prior commitments, indeed Marek now had to squeeze 20 roof jobs into the morning, Barney had to bring forward his knitting class and Gundog had to forgo his regular pre match Psychiatrist session!
However, by midnight on Friday I managed to turn off the over worked Blackberry in the knowledge we had fifteen players confirmed!
Saturday sunshine gleamed and no rain was forecast and so there surely would be no hitches to the day!!!!!
One last check that my balls were pumped firm was all that was needed and off we set!!!!
I picked up Gus who had only just got back in from another Friday corporate lunch and so he hung his head out of the window all the way with his jowls flapping in the breeze like a Saint Bernard on heat! Splints and Duncan text from Junction 7 of the M25 suggesting they might be late!
We arrived at Redingensians in good time and St Bernard had sobered up, only to realise his calf was not in good shape!!! With Barney arriving late from a more complex knitting class we were almost ready to go, though Duncan text from Junction 7 of the M25 suggesting they still might be late!
Slightly short on players we borrowed Ryan from the oppo who proved to be very useful and fitted in quickly to a high octane style of play with excellent interlinking from Morgs and Marek. Rams certainly played with determination and despite being their first run out this season they made good use of their lineout, though the scrums went more in our favour attributable to some excellent all round work from Jonny and Brucie.
Whilst we took an early lead we let ourselves down with some poor restarts allowing the Rams to push close to our try line and winning a few line outs to score from a good old fashioned driving maul. We regrouped and recognised that the Rams were not going to simply let us dance around the park as if it was summer touch, so we stepped up our game and became more committed in the tackle and at the break down.
At half time we were ahead but only just and Splints and Duncan had also moved closer to Junction 8!
The second half was a mixed bag of results, again with some excellent interplay between backs and forwards and special mention to Dave Kassler who made the most committed of tackles following on from chasing down a kick to touch, but sadly caught the shoulder of the player on his temple. Dave suffered a delayed concussion and was looked after by Officials from Redingensians to the highest standard before the Paramedics arrived later on.
The game continued and with St Bernard having to limp off we played as 14 for the reminder of the match. Though again a few sloppy errors on our part allowed Rams in for a quick try from the restart and so we dug a little deeper to find some urgency to our game, yet this too was met in equal measure from the Rams who went looking for more try’s.
Dave was coming round, St Bernard was drinking our water and Duncan and Splints were still at Junction 8!
Our defensive game improved with better communication all round taking us to a satisfactory win.
The final playing side looked like:

1 Ben Mann
2 Marty Sutherland
3 Rich Fenech
4 Brucie
5 Jonny Spears
6 Clappy
7 Gundog
8 Alex Rolls

9 Gus
10 Marek
11 Ryan (Oppo)
12 Nick Morgans
13 Mozza
14 Dave Kassler
15 Barney

Try’s scored by Morgs, Marek, Gundog, Barney, Jonny and the loaned player Ryan who we were very grateful to.

Marek’s 20 morning meetings must have taken it out of him as he missed all his kicks, so I will be discussing this with him and see how we re-organise his working week better!
Other mentions must go to Clappy who lasted the whole game and made a meaningful impact alongside fellow stars Mozza and Marty and thanks also to Ben Mann!

On a separate note a huge thanks to Alex Rolls who not only had a good all round game, but also took great care of Dave Kassler and his car keys!!!! Daves Porsche was last seen on the M4 heading towards Bath unlike Duncan and Splints who were never seen and were still on the M25 whilst we enjoyed the sunset over a few cold beers…..think Shawshank redemption roof top scene!!!!

And lastly a huge thanks to Terry and all his team at Redingensians for being such good sporting hosts.

Next week we travel down to Esher to take on an Esher side with old and new faces!!!!

Skips