Boom!!!

For the regular readers amongst you, you will recall ‘Photobomb’ cropped up recently in a previous match report and here indeed is Eugene Grimes demonstrating it in perfect style!

As for Sheds, it’s nothing more than his Botox surgery having gone a little bit wrong in his quest to look as young as Moi!
It’s a quick resume today in order to make way for the more official recount of last weeks fixture captured by Peter Boyds quill. Peter is the Clubs official match reporter and with the senior end of the Club last week attending yoga classes and manicure treatments, Peter was on hand to enjoy a Vets fixture – Peter thank you.

Of course, don’t be surprised if you see much of last weeks playing style figuring in our future encounters, which has nothing to do with us running regular patterns, but instead me doing a ‘copy/paste’ exercise to save time!
On which note, this week we took on a strong Esher side, (despite their claims or otherwise – Jeff!!) and turned up with a handy squad ourselves.

Esher is a fantastically committed Club with such good depth in strength which runs right through the Clubs back bone. Many of the players have played together over countless years and know each others playing style really well. Esher Vets epitomise that and are a strong, big outfit that love to carry the ball and smash it up front. They do that well and can recycle it quickly; in fact their forwards really inter-play well with their backs and can keep the ball alive. Or, as they proved to us, they can put their strength and superior size to good effect and score from a driving maul, not least scrummage really well. What I respect immensely in Esher Vets is the way they play the game with utter seriousness and with an almost professional edge to it, that is testament to the high standard they have all come from. The support they muster on the touch line is enviable too and a really good sporting crowd they were, never once being negative in how they saw the game, but they needed to be!!!

Because we beat them……, we beat them well, we beat them in style, we beat them with conviction and we did it because, right now….there is something that little bit special about this Harrodians Vets side and it leaves me very proud to lead them…….very proud.

The side which beat Esher….BOOM was!!:

Gus – Manager, Ref and player- you excel at all of them – thank you!

1. Skips
2. JC
3. Sheds
4. Al Dawson
5. Sean
6. Deno
7. Codo
8. Euge
9. Stu O
10. Marek
11. Cris Pini
12. Dizzy
13. Morgs
14. Si Curran
15. Slatts
Nick H
Ed Stott
Jerry G
Marty
Mark Williams

Scores:

One try each – Slatts, Morgs, Si Curran, Stu and (at last) Pini x 2
Cons – Marek x 5

And LAST WEEK Peter Boyd noted………
35 hours before December and its warm, bright and sunny at OC's with a fair amount of blue sky. The pitch soft but good to run on. The Barnes/Harrodian players arrived stragglingly, delaying the kick-off by 13 minutes.

Cranleighans didn't deal with the visitors' kick-off but recovered to kick ahead then soon forced a turnover and got the ball wide. Barnes then prevented a ball carrier from getting the ball to ground and got the first scrum put-in 16 metres into their opponents half. From this they released wide and advanced a bit before accidental offside gave OC's a scrum. Barnes dealt with the up-and-under that followed and got the ball to Morgans at centre and he went through the opposition line. After 2 more recycles they were turned over in OC's 22. Cranleighans kept the ball tight to get a penalty just outside the 22. The kick didn't find touch and Barnes ran the ball back, again breaking through, before an error gave OC's the 3rd put-in 30 metres out. Barnes were penalised again after the opposition advanced wide from their scrum. This time the kick found touch 4 metres into the visitors' half.

From their line-out OC's advanced a bit a centre before being forced into touch. From their line-out the visitors also released wide and after two recycles switched play sending Morgans ahead again. Some very good passing got them close the Cranleighans' line then after a couple of close recycles they tried wider ball before the defence forced an error to get their put-in 5 metres out. Pressure caused OC's kicker to clear to touch behind their line, giving Barnes a 5 metre put-in. At the scrum Cranleighans pushed Barnes back to get their own put-in and from that they cleared to touch just outside their 22. They then stole the line-out and kept the ball tight before Barnes again held a ball carrier up in a maul to get a scrum 27 metres out. They were pushed back at this one also but they got the ball away, going blind and got another put-in at the 22. Despite being under pressure one more in the scrum, no. 8 Spencer made good yards then Barnes recycled three more times fro 5 metres out to put wing Curran over at the corner at 14 minutes. The conversion was wide.

The visitors secured the restart but were soon penalised for holding on in the tackle 28 metres from their line. The kick took OC's to their line-out 10 metres out. Now Barnes stole a line-out and Spencer started a break-out into the other half where they got a penalty. The kick took them to 25 metres out. From the line-out they recovered from one error and advanced before making another that gave Cranleighans a scrum 13 metres out from which they cleared to touch just outside their 22. Barnes released to centre and recycled twice before the defence forced an error having forced the attackers backwards. From the scrum a back-row pickup made yards before a lateral kick gave Barnes a line-out at the opposition 10 metre line. From this line-out fullback Slattery was brought into the line at speed outside Morgans and he went through to the line untouched near the posts at 22 minutes. Przychocki added.

Barnes secured the restart and recycled 3 times before they were turned over. Almost immediately Cranleighans were penalised for holding on and the kick took the visitors to their line-out just outside the opposition 22. From this they kept ball tight and advanced a few metres before the defence forced an error to get a put-in. Cranleighans cleared to touch, still well in their half. OC's soon forced another error and from the last scrum of the 30 minute half just got into the other half before an error at the whistle. Almost all of this had been played in Cranleighans' half.

OC's 2nd 1/2 restart went straight out giving the visitors a scrum back. From this Barnes kicked diagonally into the opposition 22. Cranleighans kept the ball close and advanced to get a penalty 11 metres inside their half. The kick took them to their line-out 14 metres into the other half but they threw their line-out not-straight. From the scrum Barnes went blind but the opposition forced an error on halfway. Exceptionally, now Barnes stole the scrum against the head and a back row pick-up and 2 recycles put Morgans clear. After 2 more recycles the defence got a penalty 8 metres out and cleared to touch outside of their 22. Again Barnes stole a line-out and released wide; the ball was then recycled wide to the blind side and then driven on. The ball was recycled again and Dawson made a very good break and fed Morgans who went to the line at 8 minutes. Przychocki converted.

The visitors kicked back the restart and Cranleighans ran the ball well into the opposition half, then the defence got a put-in 28 metres out. Now OC's stayed in that half for a while. From their scrum Barnes kept ball close through several phases, going backwards at first then advancing until penalised still 5 metres inside their half. The touch kick didn't go far then Cranleighans had another line-out stolen. The visitors kept ball tight and advanced to get a penalty nearly up to halfway. The kick took Barnes to a line-out 30 metres out. Slattery came into the line and made another excellent break before sending centre Barnes (i.e. Russ Barnes) to the line after 15 minutes. The conversion was wide.

The visitors secured the restart and soon got a penalty. Their kick didn't find touch and Cranleighans ran the ball to get a scrum put-in 16 metres inside the opposition half. They advanced a bit from that before being penalised for not releasing. The following line-out was stolen by OC's for a change but soon after Barnes got a third scrum by holding up an opposition ball-carrier in a maul; this still 9 metres into their own half. The scrum feed was adjudged not-straight giving the opposition a free-kick. Their forwards ran this but were soon turned over. Straight after and error gave possession back to Cranleighans for another scrum. Another turnover by Barnes followed then an error meant a scrum for OC's once more near halfway. This time the visitors got a free kick for the feed, which their pack ran. The opposition didn't allow 10 metres so were sent back by the Ref. The next pass was dropped so another Cranleighan scrum followed. From this the ball was kicked ahead resulting in a Barnes' put-in 30 metres out. Now OC's got an opposition ball and advanced to get a penalty 15 metres into Barnes' half. This was kicked dead giving the visitors a scrum back. Cranleighans' pack pushed their opponents back strongly but Barnes got the ball away and set up a very good last attack. Five phases including two breaks, a switch of play and an offload got them close to their opponents' line then the last pass was forward at the whistle.

Errors from both teams increased in the last 10 minutes. Old Cranleighans spent more time in the opposition half in the second half, while Barnes continued to have the lions’ share. It was only in the set scrums that OC’s had an advantage due to size / bulk and that did not result in any advantage at the breakdowns.