Wednesday 16 January 2008

Recent Weeks

The post-Christmas season has given me a couple of decent games. Dorking Vets proved to be a handful up front for the oppo and the referee; masters in the dark arts, most notably their ability to keep it hidden. It was an expansive and fast game for the level, or maybe I'd had eaten too much turkey. The visitors included a couple of youngsters, to the displeasure of the hosts. A conversation between two of the kids in the backs prompted some wag on the home team to offer, "Hey, are they swapping Pokemon cards?" A ripple of laughter from both sides and the ref. Here's a link to their match report OldSutts. A good win for Dorking despite an epic 3/4 field try from Sutts in the last move of the match. I was glad I didn't blow sooner.


Last week's London Irish game was moved to the visitor's pitch at Chobham because of the rain. The lateness of this move mean there were no lines on the pitch, this wasn't as difficult as it sounds thanks to some good humour from both sides. The addition of some useful development squad players saw Irish the easy winners, thought the Chobham front row enjoyed making mincemeat of the 19 yo opposition. Heavy mud and marked uphill slope takes it out of your legs at the Chobham second pitch and I was greatful for the forward pass in the what was to be come the last move, length of the pitch turn-over tries aren't my favourite in the 85th minute.


A good chat with the Irish coach included my London Welsh past, he remarked they were always fiesty matches between the Exciles. Indeed, today was my first time on the field with the Irish that didn't involve a punch-up!

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