Sunday’s league game for the B team was a tough day at the office. Playing at Warlingham School meant we didn’t have the normal routine of meeting up early, changing together and having a proper warm up. Injuries and unavailability also meant that we fielded a quite different team from the week before, with several new players and a number of forwards playing in the backs. The opposition also looked enormous, with their two second rows dwarfing Tom Cribbens, and they had come down from the league above so we knew were in for a test!

We played down the hill in the first half and were pretty competitive. The game was played at a frenetic pace in the first ten minutes, with attempts to run the ball from everywhere, when an occasional boot wouldn’t have gone amiss! Rucking was OK and the set piece OK but not dominant as usual, but there were already ominous signs with a number of missed tackles. They (Guildford) score after a period of pressure and a second try followed soon after. Too often we allowed them to run the ball back at us from our kick off’s and we would find ourselves quickly back deep in our own half. A better kick chase and firmer tackling might have contained them more but as it was we played the game pretty much on the defensive all the time, with very little possession. Some determined runs were made in the first half, particularly by Max but he couldn’t find his usual way through what was a tough defence. We turned round at half time two or three tries down and already with several players off injured (Tom Cribbens & Charlie Stanhope).

The second half became a test of character as with the advantage of the slope they scored steadily and we hardly got out of our half. Players moved around and this helped in some ways, particularly with Jedaiel showing what he can do with ball in hand with some strong runs. Further injuries occurred with both Christian Wright and Andrew Dearden going off and even the arrival of Sam Evans and Chris Lipczynski as we tried to strengthen the team didn’t really turn the tide in our favour although we did manage to attack more.

The game ended 49-0 to Guildford, fair reflection of their dominance but probably not a reflection of what this team can do when at its best. The boys stuck to task as usual and never gave up although a little dissent shown towards the ref. was a shame and must not happen again. There are plenty of areas to work on in the weeks ahead.