To start we had squad of 21 (including 2 back from injury) whereas Japanese had only 11. The first evidence of the generous spirit in which the game was played occurred with the exemplary defection of Mr Bull, Callum, Darius & Murph - a great credit to the club. Weather was fantastic with light winds on hazy Autumn sunshine, a little give in the ground but no too sloppy. As agree with Sir and the Oppo Skipper match Kicked Off 14 a side with 1 sub for them (Murph) & nominally two half subs for us (ie both'd said they might be good for a half).

Unfortunately, as per the best laids plans of mice & men Mr Rodgers slipped awkwardly in 1st 2 minutes (was he wearing mouldies?) and the subsequent collision cracked 2 of his ribs- on comes Seb into midfield and Fab dutifully slid out to the wing. Very quickly WASPS were 14-0 up, which would seem a good lead but ominously similar to the last run out. However, this time it was different with WASPS sticking to an attacking game plan up the middle of the park and only swinging out wide after 3 or 4 phases. This worked like a dream with standout performance from winger Bishop (easily Man of the Match) who executed some wonderful hand-offs, went over 4 times and scored 3 tries?? In the second half good work on the wing was maintained with the welcome return of Andy Hodge who, despite stopping a couple of yards short of the line to consider the transient nature of man, scored also. But the hard graft, as mentioned above, was in the middle of the park, with great ball carrying for, Guillaume, Joe (scored at least once) and Seb the latter two ably supplied ball from Callixte who mixed it up well at 9. This effort was not in vain as the pack followed up well in securing the ball and performed at least one very respectable maul.

So, is there anything else to say... Well yes. The defensive line was sieve-like, even with such wily play-makers as Bully & Callum, to give away three poachers tries is not the best performance. Spirited tackling from Japanese Danny, Danny & Alex in particular could not make up for the lack of focus in KEEPING THE LINE! The only other criticism would be with respect to " nearly a try" from which I think we can at least take solace in knowing that our regular full-back knows a thing or two about defence and perhaps we can learn from him the next time he's on the our side. I hear Callixte executed a remarkable tap tackle too, but was otherwise engaged. Final point to note on the game was that this ended as it began played in the most exemplary fashion.

Well done one and all! Let's have a good strong turn out for 1st please.