Coming upto KO we had 9 Fat Dads backed up by the quite considerable Mr A Gordn & the fleet of foot Mr J McGee. A 13man lime-up was complete with Riddler and the very considerable Mr I Churchill. In the breakdown we were tougher and that combined with some sane play in the backline saw us up 14-0 very quickly. Unfortunately three things conspired against us;

Inigo was pulled for the 2s (enter Fab after 2year sojourn - great effort)

Riddler had to go & do those tricky things he does

Lack of fitness started to tell

This last flaw was all the more pronounced as we were down to 12 men vs 13.

Halfway through 2nd half, Belsize agreed to give us one of their subs who stepped up to the task by scoring, but by then the damage had been done.

It is worth noting that 2 of their tries were off fast tap penalties, one of which we were penalised twice for not getting back the requisite 10. Line out remained something of a game of chance and some erratic commitment at the breakdown meant our ball retention was haphazard. This is good news- we can do the hard bit and were well upto the contact, the extra good news is our lapses can be rectified:

Aerobic fitness can be improved (I can't wait!)

Keeping a line can be practised

Line out- I've photographic evidence that white men CAN jump just need practice

More narrow channel work

Should all put us in good stead.

This was a very respectable start.

Next game 4 Oct 14. Get ready.

Justin