Unfortunately the performance was the antithesis of the display against Rosslyn Park. We started badly by conceding 3 tries and poor old Sonny had to leave the field with a what looked like a sprained knee – we wish him a speedy recovery. Half the team battled well but it needed a more coordinated effort to wrestle the game from Finchley and more precise tackles. We reached half time 22 nil down having shipped a further try.

I sensed we still had a chance if we could play as well as we did against Rosslyn in the second half. Sure enough, we woke up and began to put some phases of play together. Jean-Baptiste and John Duneen never stopped playing and did everything to lead by example. Finally, a break-out from our 22 involved a good run from Xavier, playing in the unfamiliar role of full back, ended with a fine run in from fly half, Robert kirwan. We were now in business. Our tackling had sharpened up and we were retaining a lot more possession. Inside centre and captain, Rasaan Samms cruised through a gap in mid-field to outpace the opposition for a wonderful opportunist try. Could this be the big fight back – we were now losing 12-22.

Sadly, we lost concentration at the resulting kick off and found ourselves defending our lines once again, with the momentum having been lost. We ended up by giving away 2 more soft tries to Finchley.

I predict training will be rigorous this Sunday!

TT