We fought the Law, and the Law won.

Law Society 33 - Mayfair Occasionals 0

This Saturday saw us go to the Law Society. The LS are apparently only in our league this season because someone in Surrey RFU has a grudge against them (and after Saturday, I can well understand why). These boys are undefeated this season, so we knew this one was going to be tough.

We had a solid looking team, albeit a few last minute-ish call offs meant that we only had a couple of guys on the bench - which was always going to stretch us on a balmy day, and after such a long layoff. From our home game against them earlier in the season, we knew that these guys are a serious operation, full of power and pace, and with about as many portly lawyers in their team as London Irish has Irish players.

That said, we started well, with Calvert's decision on winning the toss to play into the bright sun evidently being a psychological masterstroke. The first half was tense, and but we were holding our own in the set piece (no easy feet in the line out when they had a bald Devin Toner blocking out the sun at 2), our backs were running good angles and our power runners were making yards and making offloads. However LS's class at 9 and 10 showed as they managed to score twice in the few occasions that they were in our half, plus we were beginning to feel the squeeze in the tight. In the second half we welcomed on our impact subs 'Saffa Slimmer of the Year' Pedro and Chris Lord (fresh from his missionary work in Harpenden RFC, after we left him behind at the Harpenden 7s there a few years back). Sadly Snook got a bit of a knock on the head soon in the second half, and with him going off we lost a lot of our ball carrying threat. For about 10 mins or so we lost composure and conceded a few soft scores. We then gave ourselves a bit of a talking to about not going down softly to a team that had James Harries from Antiques Roadshow / CBB in the centre, and finished the game strongly, pounding away at their defence. The scoreline may look like a belting, but we certainly gave as good as we got. We never quite managed to break down the oppo's defence, which was a credit to their scrambling defence, but also something to do with their repeated slowing down of our quick tap penalties and their slapping down balls in the air, which earned them a yellow card in the dying minutes.

Good
- Our scrum was much improved from the last time we played them, and we even managed to put on a bit of a wheel on their ball. We still lost a few of our own, but that's just down to our perennial lack of a specialist hooker. So well done to Hitman, Fran and Sundo for putting in an 80 min shift there. Our maul defence against a heavier unit was also notable.
- Great to have two good options in the line-out in Dai and Snook, both of whom won their fair share of ball and made a nuisance of the oppo's. In fact, the oppo's inability to hit Bald Devin Toner with a remotely straight throw made Calvert feel a lot bit better about his attempts to throw in.
- Some great runs from Snook, Sundo and even Pedro thundering down the wide channels.
- Our half backs had great games and gave us a great platform - bringing in Suki, Harry and Benny in particular on their trademark bullocking runs (leading with their shoulder / head / chest respectively)
- Our back three were very involved, due to the oppo's kicking game. Johnny C and Martin had to work very hard to back to retrieve the ball and run it back, and always looked composed under pressure.
- It genuinely felt like a day when the 50/50s came off for the oppo (in particularr their kicking to touch), and not for us. Everyone got stuck in and made their hits, and the oppo said afterwards that we were the hardest game they'd had this season (which admittedly could be construed as faint praise from these guys). The fact they chose to kick so much in attack and spoil so much in defence was tribute to the pressure we put them under. Had we been able to keep up the offloading game for the full 80, we could really have damaged them.
- Thanks to Si Smithers for coming down to support, to Dai for turning 'full-Occie', and to Chris for making his full XV debut for us.
- The oppo were a good natured lot off the pitch, with 'Bronx' and 'Kojak' coming over to say hi in the pub, and with Calvert later making making a clandestine contact with another of them in the loos at the Alma later on in the evening. Interesting to hear how tough it is for an opposition prop to deal with Sundo just leaning down on him from above in the scrum.

Bad
- Obviously, a shame to have a few withdrawals for our hardest game of the season.
- The lack of match teas from the best funded social team ever * was a bit disappointing. Never seen Huw so angry when he heard!
* case in point, their 3s tour this year is to Jamaica. JAMAICA.
- Don't like to say it, but there was a little too much chat on the pitch. No one should be talking to the ref (who, by the way, was excellent) except Calvert, and no one should be saying anything negative to each other full stop (not even Calvert). We should be channelling any frustration into the next hit / scrum, not expending it on whinging (/growling, if you're Hitman). For the rest of the season we need to lock it down and play as a 15 for the full 80 mins.
- those damn insect bites

Funny
- While there's no funny side to Snook coming off with a knock, his having two people stand next to him on the sidelines to provide him with shade was a touching moment.
- Benny P's multiple attempts at catching the ball with his chest and knocking it 5m straight up the pitch (followed by the inevitable 'ah, farrrrrk') started getting funny after the 3rd time. And so the 'Chalcon' was born.
- While I agree that a sausage roll is not a match tea, the LS do get marks for throwing us a few slabs of Bierre d'Or in the changing rooms. Not providing a bottle opener was just cruel though - Calvert wasted about 5 mins and several layers of skin convinced they were screw tops, while Pedro just smashed his against the ledge, which left the bottle lid untouched but made the ledge resemble the bathroom door at Oscar Pistorius's (sorry).

MOM - strong contributions made this week by Jonny, who was fully involved at fullback and looked strong throughout, and also by Suki, who looked a threat all day and was the oppo's choice for our MoM. However, given his work in mooring down the scrum and his tireless hit ups, plus him leaving his sweatband at home for once, this week it goes to Tom Sunderland

DOD - Calvert for (after far too few ales) mistaking Dai for Bald Devin Toner in the pub afterwards, and asking him where the match teas were. Just incredible for a guy who'd played with Dai for two hours on the pitch, then drank with him for two hours after.