A bit of Argy Bargy.......but why not!

Santa duties detained me from summarising the outcome of our last fixture on December 19th away to Guildford and in many respects they were deserving of the early Christmas Present we gave them by handing them a win which they didn’t really have to fight for; they were, on the day, the better side with 29 – 24 making us look good!

And so we move on….

Much news as always to report on!

Si Curran is now recovering from loosing a fight with a washing machine and I understand from Mrs C he is doing well, which is good news because he has one almighty fine coming for stopping the bus en-route to Guildford to return home and become a plumber!
More importantly a huge Harodians ‘well done’ to Northy and Bridge who have had another baby and Yash and his lovely wife who have done so too…….our very best to you all.

Jonny Spears is in training for some sort of macho marathon, Paul Farmer is looking as good as ever, Gus has officially come out of retirement and my dear and special friend Buster White was also looking in very lean shape when we met recently as he approaches that special age yet still owns rugby boots.....clean ones!

With so much Turkey consumed over the Christmas break and invariably little time for any form of training there is always the risk that the first game back can be a real banana skin and having already slipped up on the 19th, such a risk was not an option. Though facing Ealing away is the very fixture we could get it wrong and adopting the right approach was essential.

Confirmation of the fixture and squad went out mid week followed up by a few rousing sentences from yours truly, yet much to my surprise none of the usual email banter ensued……an eerie silence…..perhaps quite contemplation before the fixture…..or maybe just ignoring Skips……hmmm probably!!

Despite ever persistent rain I was pleasantly surprised how good the condition of Ealing’s pitch was and a mild breezy afternoon meant there really were no reasons for excuses. Ealing (ERFC) also had good numbers and some very professional looking organisation to their warm up......wits about us I thought!

An effective warm up and the boys were keen to go with Harrodians kicking off and following up strongly..........
ERFC were well organised and efficient at the breakdown but we competed well and managed to disrupt their quest for open play with some exceptional defensive work. When we managed to recycle the ball it gave us the opportunity to play our open style of play were the backs and forwards really do blend in well. Deano collected a number of high balls from the restarts and set a high standard for us all to follow in the way he carried the ball up into the heart of the ERFC pack very well supported by Big Al and Gibbo who had outstanding games in the lineout.

At scrum time we held our own against a slightly larger pack who knew when and how to up the pressure on us. Their loose head ‘The Rock’ cleverly befriending me with his warm personable character ensuring we chatted about all manner of things as we trotted from scrum to the next play!

Great darts from Ed and Yash meant near domination by Gibbo in the lineout and Big Al did well to disrupt some of ERFC own ball, but in fairness they were equally composed and used their ball well.

Ensuring we won our set piece well meant Frodo could deliver quality ball to Rich Mayson at 10 and if he spoke Polish he could quite easily be Marek...Rich has certainly brought the ability for us to now execute what we talk about and it’s great to see him orchestrate the back in the way he does. Morgs and Slats had cracking games and likewise Barny until he went off injured was on good form, but the more outstanding of all of them was Jose.

Jose simply powered his way around the park with exceptional support play rewarded with two fantastic tries. He played like a man possessed and was by far the Man of the Match......more of the same please Jose. Yet it’s when things go well we can ease off and no sooner did we lose our ‘hunger’ we let ERFC straight back in the game when we were three tries up! They were a very determined side and capitalised quickly on our mistakes and punished us so.

No sooner had we come back with another try they did exactly the same and carved us open leaving us all watching! And that can sometimes be our problem..........we switch off and become spectators!

Words were spoken, heads nodded and the boys responded well reverting to our style of play and taking control of the ball. Though we still continued to give silly pens away and the ref was quick to punish us, sadly sending Ed for early showers in the closing stages. We kept our cool and has absorbed the very effective ERFC counter but perhaps it was simply too little to late form them, or perhaps, at last, we got stuck into the game early on and didn’t wait 40 minutes or so!

Other guys who deserve a mention are Vice Skips...Russ who had a great game in the loose and Nicky B, who did more than he gives credit for. Frodo at 9 bellows perfectly and of course Gus, now officially out of retirement creaks like an old Steam Roller let loose from a Museum, but still wonderful to watch! And of course a big thanks to the Guys off the bench who slotted in perfectly.

EFRC post match hospitality was great and my thanks to Skipper Jake for making us feel so welcome and a great game in great spirits!
After we left Ealing’s magnificent Club House some of us managed to stop off for a bit more Argy Bargy at the highly commendable http://www.citybargechiswick.com !!!

The squad was.....

1 Martin SUTHERLAND
2 Yashar ASL
3 Richard FENECH

4 Sean GIBSON
5 Alasdair DAWSON

6 Dean STANFORD
7 Nick BELLIS
8 Russell BARNES

9 Eddie DREW
10 Richard MAYSON

11 Nick HAMILTON
12 Nick MORGANS
13 Jose FERNANDEZ
14 Simon SLATTERY

15 James BARNARD

RES
16 Ed STOTT
17 Nick HARTLEY
18 Lewis HAMMOND
19 Angus GRAHAM
20 Karl JOHANSSON

Scores:
Tries Jose x 2, Slatts, Rich M, Russ and Morgs 1 each.

Cons Barney x 3

Next week we are off for the annual Vets Lunch so no game then, but are awesome 2s play Richmond 2s on Friday night at 7.30pm a game not be missed!
Have a great week.....
Skips/Finche