Harrodians respectful...

Shoulder to shoulder Harrodian Vets stood alongside Weybridge Vets and observed a minutes silence as rain and wind lashed the pitch and in our own quiet way we tried to fathom Friday night’s atrocities. This forum is not the place to attempt to offer an emotive opinion other than our thoughts and prayers for a deeply proud rugby nation which will find its resolve to heal its pain.

In the run up to our fixture I can reassure you that the absence of a match report for the last two weeks is not because Skips has been tied to the wonky Chandelier, but a number of social events took precedent not least one of our very own current playing Vets in the shape of Clappy celebrating the onset of another fifty years......you Champion! The same could also be said of Sinners RFC which also celebrated its fiftieth and late into the night we were singing along with our own version of Pavarotti choking on pistachio nuts as he watched Susan Boyle singing in X Factor....Chairman Rhino...heavenly!

So with no games for two weeks we were very keen to get this fixture under the way and over twenty of us playing floodlit Touch on Tuesday night were testament to that! Odly though there was none of the usual email banter which fills up our inboxes, which could be down to the fact Si Curran now has a proper job!

Normal preparations ensued and in particular Captain of Vice, Russ Barnes, insisting we all wore No1s sporting an item of RWC ‘official’ memorabilia in respect of the minor Nations!

Saturday arrived and Skips only had one request of the boys....focus on three facets of play and everything else will fall into place. However, for the first ten minutes or so Weybridge had different ideas and opened the scoring with a well worked try that caught us napping....0-5 with no conversion and the rain continuing to poor. Jayden was already blowing warm air in to his hands and for a short while, a relatively big Weybridge opposition looked like they could be a bit of bother. However, they had all packed their kit bags with misfortune as a number of their lad’s sustained early injuries and one of their brethren acted out a bad case of bulimia on the far touch line!
Conversely Harrodians light switch came on and the boys started to recall Skips ever so simple message from earlier on!
Set piece was evenly contested with Weybridge being disruptive in the lineout and fairly useful in the scrum; that left the ruck to be dominated and without question Harrodians came to life.

Jayden slotted into the 9 shirt with conviction and orchestrated the forwards perfectly; guys like Rob Allen, Marty, Yash and yours truly were like pigs in s**t as we picked and popped the ball from all sorts of positions. Outstanding play from Dean, Big Al and Gibbo in the loose had them interlinking perfectly with the backs and of course Man of the match Russ had an excellent game.

Despite such foul weather and a pitch which resembled a mud bath, the backs managed to put on some excellent running rugby. New kid on the block Barney had a great game putting in some excellent defensive work, likewise Jose was impressive and Pini grabbed himself two tries whilst Morgs was a temporary spectator! Marek.....Maestro.

All the guys played smart rugby and even those that didn’t play the full game did step in and make a meaningful contribution.
I still feel the score line flatters us and what can be said for Weybridge is that not once did their heads go down; they made us work hard and forced us to be patient which we did in sustaining some good attacking phases.
A great win was followed by some much needed curry, thanks Zoe and all and a few beers whilst Russ adjudicated over the RWC memorabilia!!

Skips pathetic attempt of Texaco petrol station England flag didn’t cut the mustard, but wasn’t as bad as Si Curran continuing to believe his lucky try, (a hesitant pass from Gibbo) qualified him as Man of the Match......the matter was laid to rest when Rhino retrieved the dog bowl and Si impressively consumed its contents of cold Guinness with no spillage!

Harrodians have much more to do as we prepare for some tough opposition in the coming weeks, but today was a very good start in developing a belief in our capabilities.

Tries
Barney, Russ, Si Curran, Jayden, Big Al and Jose x 1 each,
Cris P x 2
Cons
Marek x 3, Barney x 2

Sleep peacefully people.
Skips/Finche
07774 254162