Youth triumphs over Wisdom!

One must assume a serious case of Manandpushchairitus has gripped the community of leafy Cobham as our scheduled league fixture with their Vets they had to sadly reschedule from last week to this week, but at the last moment they had to cancel. We all send our best wishes and warmly welcome Cobham to Barn Elms in the near future…

Frustratingly we have had a full squad available and the boys enthusiastically tell me over Xmas they stuffed their ‘birds’ correctly and made good use of both ends so were in much need of a run out! Sadly though there were some casualties to the Festive indulgence….

Duncan proudly posted photos on face book of his beer consumption; a scene that resembled a waste recycling plant in Scunthorpe and so has now taken up membership with the AA! Jose has picked up a nasty case of elephantiasis, which he is trying to convince us was from a stud scratch against Quins in December! We all know Jose to well and have come to the conclusion that he read my last match report with such intrigue, he decided to pay a visit to Madam VB’s boudoir…….but in Swansea!

Anyway, by Friday morning we had 17 players confirmed, but no fixture.
Though thankfully, and with utmost seriousness, I must express our collective indebted thanks to Jane, our fixtures secretary, who preserved late in to Thursday night to secure a friendly fixture away to Old Ruts 2s; a fixture we really needed. By midday Friday we were all confirmed…….Sweet!

Saturday’s weather was mixed, with torrential rain having lashed much of the southeast, though to my surprise, Merton was dry and breezy. Old Ruts have played on their Club pitches for over 80 years and the grounds were in pretty good nick considering the amount of rain. We had a good 30 minutes to warm up and get our mindset right whilst ruts went through well worked drills and patterns. With ten minutes to go to kick off there was the usual debate about whether we stick with two line out moves or have a third one…….hung heads and shrugged shoulders kept it at two; meanwhile Ruts had gone back into the changing rooms to keep warm!

Now, we knew that they were a youngish side, but from the off both they and Harrodians realised this was going to be a very fiercely contested match; Ruts 2s (well a combination of their 1s and 2s as it transpired), were not going to loose at home to a ‘bunch of old gits’. Likewise we had pride and passion, let alone an encyclopaedia of experience to throw at them!

The first five minutes saw us put Ruts under pressure as we attacked their line, but we couldn’t convert the effort in to points. Then it was Ruts turn to pressure us and did so for a longer period. We did defend well and worked hard at the breakdown, but all too often our tackles were not committed enough and Ruts could off load or another maul ensued. After about 15 minutes they snuck over for an easy try where we were simply caught napping!

We came straight back at them and unleashed our backs with that usual combo of Polish Express and Welsh Wizard interlinking well. When we punch holes like that and recycle quickly we can be devastating and indeed we were as we scored quite quickly.

The guys were pumped and now in this game…
Lineout’s worked for us, but not as clinically as they have done previously and so we struggled to use this to any great effect. Ruts conversely put there well drilled moves together to good effect and had a couple of tall units delivering clean ball, much of which they preferred to maul putting us under pressure.

The scrums were fairly even and the experimental combination of the two Jerry’s at prop and yours truly at hooker seemed to work. So much so that one ball fed in by St Bernard was so fast I had no chance to swipe at it and it flew straight out the other side! By the time the pack had broken up, we had scored in the corner! Clearly a ‘backs’ conspiracy move to turn the scrum feed into a wide pass!!

Ruts came back quickly and took us to half time, but we were just ahead at 15:14.

Fresh legs in Dave Kassler and Marty were welcome and brought some much needed injection of new energy, because from the start, despite being well up for it we just didn’t seem to find our form and Ruts started to put their youthful energy to good use and put us under immense defensive pressure. They attached our line on many occasions and we defended gallantly, but in the end they found a weakness and scored but did not convert.

Trailing 15:19 we really did step up and played with some great passages of play. I never can with ease single out players when all fifteen have played with such commitment, but a special mention to Clappy and Gundog who worked hard all game, likewise, huge effort from Marek and Gus for dictating the game so well.

It was not to be our day and in the dying seconds one last attack from Ruts saw one of their larger font rows go over for a try. I could have slept better with 15:19, but 15:24 just takes the shine off what was a bloody good Harrodians performance. Age is not a factor. Yes Ruts were a much younger side, (oldest player 28, ours 52), but instead it was about fitness. Had we been fitter we would have won that game and to win some of other league fixtures against sides of the same age, will be done so by having a superior fitness. We owe it to ourselves and the team to make that honesty call and put some miles in!

Old Ruts were fantastic hosts with a vibrant Club atmosphere and we really appreciated the good contest which was played in the true spirit of a friendly – thank you; you are always welcome at Barns for a reply fixture.

Scores were Cris Pini tries x 2 Barney x 1

And the side was:
1 Jerry Gillespie
2 Finch
3 Jerry Sheds
4 Brucie
5 Clappy
6 Tom Rintoul
7 Gundog
8 Nicky B

9 Gus
10 Barney
11 Cris Pinni
12 Nick Morgs
13 Marek
14 Jonathan Stadlen
15 Dizzy

16 Dave Kassler
17 Marty Sutherland

Next week we are away to Cranleigh, unless the illness afflicting leafy Cobham spreads!!!
Luv Skips x