A quest to improve!!!

Sadly having had the last two fixtures cancelled or re-arranged, has kept Harrodians away from normal duties on the field and left Dave Doonan with nothing to read on a Sunday morning with his mug of tea and loo roll to hand!

I should clarify the above point……

The more literacy aware of you will note that ‘photobomb’ has been made word of the year, (no little thanks to the trillions of ‘selfies’ captured by image obsessed youngsters today – good or bad, who knows), yet I offer you ‘Doonanbomb’ as a contender for next years winner!

For those of you who don’t know him, Dave is our loveable Honorary Secretary and every story he tells with his distinct Irish accent has that kind of ‘Dave Allen’ feel to it! Though be warned! His story telling is most vivid and as I learnt last weekend, the timing of his introduction to close family and friends has to be carefully managed……think Gerry Adams meets the Queen!!!

Read on Dave…….!

Though our little time off has not been wasted as indeed yours truly has embarked upon a ‘self improvement programme’! Skips has come to realise that at age 44 he’s far from too old to strive to become a better person! I kicked off this regime of change in fine style by completing Tough Mudder London South last Saturday by 1000hrs, a gruelling 12 mile course with the most challenging of obstacles to overcome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjjVmtH22kg&noredirect=1

Not satisfied with that as a challenge I then realised on returning to my car exhausted and painfully stiffening up, I had lost my car key, most likely in the field where by now thousands of other cars had parked! Domestic deadlines ensued and delivering pre-match speeches at Chichester RFC with less than two hours to go tested my resolve and my apparently woeful communication skills! However, with a bit of re-tracing steps and calmly hatching Plan B, C and D, the key turned up, the car raced away, washed and No1s adorned, arrived at CRFC, Doonanbombed, speech delivered and a cracking win by our 1s against a very credible Chichester!

All which brings us nicely to the subject of rugby!

The usual shenanigans ensued throughout the week with our fixture nearly having to move to a flood lit Friday night and then returning to Saturday afternoon, but with no referee confirmed till that morning. As ever fixtures Secretary Jane Graham somehow manages to achieve the impossible late into Friday night ensuring our fixture takes place – thank you Jane.

Glorious mild autumnal weather greeted us away to Weybridge and their pitch was in perfect condition, usual swirling breeze too!!

Duncan and Springy had left Kent early that morning to arrive on time for the first time I can remember, yet Marty choose to turn up so late it meant Duncan had to start at Prop! The referee, who, clearly had Steve Walsh as his prodigy, was determined to teach us all something about the game (which some of us have been playing for more than 30 years) which we had missed out on! He may as well been talking Swahili, (in itself a beautiful dialect) to Duncan when he insisted Duncan find his ‘hips’ and scrumage not below them!! Duncan normally has a look of bewilderment on his face at the best of times and trying to understand the referee’s request was a bit like a forensic accountant unravelling Enron…..or indeed Tesco!

We started in formidable style and despite a large Weybridge pack we dominated the set piece with utter conviction and the lineouts were formidable with Sean Gibson commanding every aspect of play.

In the loose we opened up huge holes and the interlinking play between backs and forwards was outstanding. However, our weakness proved to be or impatience and the referee was becoming frustrated with us. Indeed Skips had to use the very best of my developing communication skills to man-mange the game with the ref, (we were very much on first name terms throughout), as we conceded far too many penalties, often for silly errors.

Highlights of our performance included a number of players, though those which I especially remember were:

Sheds, drop kicking whilst on the charge and finding touch perfectly. This resulted in a compulsory Pint of Guinness fine later on! Slats putting in a magnificent try saving tackle, Splints behaving like the head of Finance at Tesco and missing passes, tackles and kicks all over the place yet still balancing the books! Sean Gibson, simply an immense game all round.

Maestro Marek as usual orchestrated the backs perfectly, but the higher try count was claimed by the pack. Russ Barnes, who does a great job in Pumpkin carvings had an outstanding game and relishes the No 8 shirt. Of course many others made the game the success that it was, including Weybridge.

The opposition put up real good spirited fight and not once gave up, which many a side could have done when we went up three tries to none very early on. In fact I reckon they may even have been the better side in the late second half as they broke our defence on numerous occasions. Harrodians must learn from this quickly if we are to go on and preserve our undefeated record.

Though it was ‘communication’ that won the day with Weybridge going over to score a brilliant try, I pulled the side together under the posts as the conversion was awaited and calmly spoke to the lads. I didn’t rant and softly spoke of the areas we needed to focus on and how we needed to pull together and come out of the trenches looking out for each other. Immediately I had finished, my fellow Prop Sheds said…. “Lads f……£$%*(^(&*(()(^%$£$£”£”!£)_)@@@$££$”$””@@@@@@......and f@?>ing do it!”

No sooner had the conversion gone over the ref blew his whistle to end the match….there you go…..two Props preparing you for battle when all you will be doing next is taking a shower!!

Though with ‘battle’ a poignant theme and as we have no matches for the next three weeks I will use this opportunity to pay our respects to the ‘fallen’ especially if your family lives have been touched by their valiant selflessness. A good reason for us all to find our own quest to improve!

The side that played was:

Marty
JC
Finch
Sheds
Rob
Clappy
Dean
Duncan
Sean
Beans
Russ
Frodo
Springy
Marek
Morgs
Jose
Stu
Slatts
Nick
Mark

Tries: Gibbo x2 Russ x2 Duncan, Stu and Morgs x1

Cons: Marek x3

Skips/Finche
02.11.2014