It was a funny old game but match won 27-26.

Match according to Adam...

We had a cracking away game against Teddington with the lead of the game changing hands several times and this weekend’s home game was keenly anticipated to be a good’un.

We have been keenly waiting for the arrival of our new slim tight kit to arrive thanks to our new sponsors iBid and Wimbart. Upon opening the kit bag I discovered a shiny looking kit however having heard nothing about it arriving this week and the sponsorship logo on the front being something to do with interiors something was incorrect. However due the usual ferocity at which the Occies attack the kit bag to find the elusive M (sometimes phone calls are put in to hold certain shirts!) jerseys were quickly being pulled over heads and the team was admiring just how well their January dieting was going once the suranrap was in place! At this point I put a call in to Santa trying to catch him before Huw attempted to pull what appeared to be a sock from gap kids over his head. Sants did some rummaging and appeared with another kit bag, which had ‘Barnes Ladies’ adorned down the side. The rest of the team made a bolt for the door refusing to remove the SpanXs apart from Huw who breathed a sigh of relief and welcomed Sants with a hug.

Due to the scuffufal in the changing rooms warm up time was limited and a full team run through never happened. However we did have a chance for the Pagey warm up which included a new 1,2,3 routine, 1 left hand, 2 right hand and 3 throw your face into the goosemire. The ref called us in and whilst he was going through his version of what is side entry an UN, DEUX, TROIS rang out. ‘The French’ as they have been thoughtfully named, Jean-Pierre and Martin had under their own chastisement, I can only assume this was due to the red rose being adorned on their chests, had dropped and were punching out vingt press ups and were not to be disturbed by anyone, ref included!

Despite the lack of a Suki angry team talk we got away in usual Occie fashion and the points came early. Gus had a great run, he must have ran at least 50m which was impressive as he received the ball only 10m from Teddingtons try line, a slight case of white line fever, never the less he got over the line and scored.

Martin had a fantastic run down the right wing from our half, going around his opposite man at pace, committed the full back and then passed inside to Jonny who was in support to run in another.

5 minutes later Theakston cut a brilliant line from the half way line to run in a try single handed, all before his girlfriend arrived when I presume he managed to relay the whole thing over to her!

We then had a slight slip up as we decided to do a 3 man juggle within 5m of our try line, then we added a 4th juggler who was unfortunately wearing a different coloured jersey and gifted them a try which they converted.

Our defence was strong, we came up flat, forwards filled gaps rather than moseying across the pitch to lean on a ruck and we drifted with their attack forcing them back inside.

Half time 27 – 14 in the Occies favour.

The changes were wrung at half time and the Occies went quiet. Teddington eventually realised that they were dominating the set plays and with us not talking to one another gaps began to appear once players had been sucked in. Early in the second half they got the ball wide and managed to cut back in to score. Teddington had a number of rolling mauls from lineouts in which they gained a significant distance down the pitch and also a try which was followed by a yellow to Ryan who stepped forward when the ref said No.18, although I'm not sure he was the only 18 on the pitch nor the only person entering from the side. The ref then yellow carded one of their players too, I’m unsure exactly what the offending player did but if being generally annoying and a bit of a d1ck was cardable then the ref got it right.

We stood under our posts with 3 minutes left on the clock at 27-26 waiting for the Teddington full back to make the conversion, he hadn’t missed all day! Fortunately the wind which had been picking up throughout the game came to our rescue and his kick hooked wide. For the next 3 minutes we held on to possession by cutting down the 50/50 passes and keeping the ball in hand with hammer balls and Benny P taking crash ball after crash ball. Apart from for a brief moment when fortunately they decided to kick the ball straight down the middle rather than kick it to touch for a lineout they almost certainly would have won. Somebody who can throw a dart is yet to be discovered!!

It was a funny old game but match won 27-26!

Man of the match went to Martin, there was some great interplay in the backs, with individual skill which was then well supported.

Notes below a few conflicting views from a forward and a back!

Good

Martin and Jean played well.

Tom Theakston scored a great try after running a phenomenal line.

Gus scored an awesome try after crabbing half way across the pitch.

Snook - strong running as always.

Huw giving a number of show-and-goes in the second half.

Fitzy getting all round the park as always.

Johnny throwing himself a line out ball in our own 22 as he knew we'd only lose our throw in.

Two more debuts, and great numbers generally. Real shame to have to take so many people off at half time. Some great tries in the first half - showing back interplay, individual skill, and good support work.
The oppo were a big bunch, but our defence against them was good (one breakaway try from their winger aside). Pack did well to withstand lots of rolling mauls and tough scrums - not much more that can be done against a well-organised oppo with a strong set piece.
Good to see a lightweight 2nd row holding their own in the scrum in the 2nd half
Fair play to the oppo - who've had a tough time in the league this year - to give us such a good game and to come so close.
Jonny had a good game from fullback, running the ball back with confidence. Huw had another good running game for us.

Pagey hailing a couple of blondes at the bar in the Red Lion, presumably out for a quiet 9pm drink, with a friendly greeting of "Sl _ ts!" was one of those moments which was simultaneously good, bad and funny.

Bad

Complacent second half - not scoring a point.

Ref missed a few obvious forward passes, but then pinged us when it was clearly backwards.

We are still soft in defence against a rolling maul.

The ref thinking that when the oppo kicked the ball throw the scrum a number of times, it was just Fitzy somehow hooking it back 30 yards

It took us some time to adjust our tactics to the fact that they were destroying us in the set piece. Would have been preferable to cut down on the kicking from hand and maybe cut down on the 50/50 passes which risked knock ons.
Pack needs to spend more time beforehand getting the line out sorted out and trying to work out how to channel the hook more quickly.
Every time we put a few phases together, we seemed to make ground - so need to be more confident in doing pick and goes and passes off Huw to tie in their forwards.
Our ball retention was generally good, but a few times we went too far over the ball and left Santa exposed.

Sundo going on yet another weekend date.

Funny

The Frenchies doing warm up push ups while the ref was trying to give the team talk.

Harry jumping into a tackle only to get chopped in half (not sure how funny that is).

Wearing the girls kit.... but looking good in it!

Santa making the perfect pass to allow for the interception
Benny P's juggling act
Fitzy getting absolutely poleaxed in the swingers.

Huw celebrating when the old kit arrived.

Harry Santa managing to score a date with a hottie on tinder during matchteas just to demonstrate how good his 'template responses' are.