Who needs backs?

After organising a strong friendly the last thing you need is 8 players dropping out so Saturday morning saw a jet lagged (came up from Kernow the night before) and teasy skipper trudging to KCS ground through the snow and rain half expecting a battering. (violins on standby)

Lack of trains and poor traffic ensured only 5 of us made the meet time the rest would turn up dreckly. Energy was conserved by a snail paced 20 min warmup with 13 players which mostly involved shivering and watching a well drilled oppo run good lines at the other end of the pitch. Comment of the day was ‘ Sh** they all have the same socks and shorts….. we’re f*****!’

Back to the changing rooms 10 mins before KO we found our last three stragglers and it was just enough time for a ref’s brief, stud check and plan on how to organise a 16 man squad containing 13 forwards and 3 backs. Lining up with back row’s at 9,10,12 and 13 expansive flowing rugby was sure to be on the agenda…..

Winning the coin flip (10 out of 12 this yeah I’ll have you know #skillgame) I opted to kick and Peter Boele jumping in at 9 sent up a good one.

As usual at this point some rugby started, some running, a bit of tackling, a bit more running, the occasional kick and then a 15 man loss of positional sense and couple of missed tackles saw KCSs brightest player on the day, their fullback, run half the length of the pitch for a very preventable try. Very good conversion made from wide. 7 – 0. Alarm bells started to ring and a thorough dicking looked to be on the cards. But at times like this heroes are born and Mighty Choughs were to rise from the shivering blackbirds that had started on the pitch (too much??).

Another good reset saw the Chough’s defensive line up quickly and inside the KCS half we would stay for the majority of the half. Some great tackle breaking runs from all of the forwards especially the flankers Dowie and Preston was bolstered by the additional 2 flankers of O’Sullivan and myself at 10 & 12 working a simple switch repeatedly to surprisingly good effect. In general though as a team we let ourselves down within 5 metres of their try line with a slight lack of patience or unforced errors.

Half time came with us dominating possession yet unable to breach the KCS last line of defence. Usually half time allows me to sub myself off but unfortunately this couldn’t happen today. Our one change was the returning Pete Myatt on for the returned Will Murray at hooker, 10 minutes later realising that we only had 4 forwards in the backs we thought we’d add another with Pete very reluctantly having to move out to the wing as Terry went off winded and Will stepped back in to the front row.

The second half can be shortened to the following. Catch, Ruck, Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab, Pass, Switch, Ruck, Jab, Jab, Jab, Jab………. Eventually KCS managed to turn the ball over but Preston was quickly up to charge down a KCS clearance kick with the ball dropping conveniently for Kael to touchdown for his 4th try of the season. Conversion missed 7 – 5.

We continued to play almost the entire half within the KCS half, stringing phase after phase together with the KCS defence holding firm, when they did turn the ball over the strong breeze made their clearances difficult and kept us on the front foot. At some point a Chris Turner break was followed by a very flukey grubber kick which he'd be very disappointed if i missed from the report. It was one of those kicks that had the following on field commentary. ' Chris pass, no, what the hell are you doing, oh, oh, ffs...... oh, actually.......great kick, well done mate.'

After another 96 phase pick and go play, persistent prop Tom Lowe managed to find a gap to his well trodden line to score the Chough’s second try of the game. 10 mins left on the clock.

Like all good Chough’s games we like to add a little bit of drama (for the crowd) and a late KCS break was only prevented for being run in by a great covering tackle from Joe Forster. With time run down on the clock Preston repeatedly screamed get rid of it like a mad man and somebody duly obliged whistle blown and a great win for the Chough’s. As ‘The mighty Warl’ were going down against one of our clubs less famous teams ‘The Mighty Chough’s’ had won another high scoring game. 10 – 7 the Chough’s supporters (2, including 1 sub) were delirious after an absorbing match.

Although a bit of a war on the pitch the game was good-natured and handshakes all round after the game. On being asked whether this was genuinely only a club 3rd team by the experienced opposition prop, Jack replied ‘No we have several 4th team players here as well!’

With our post match shivering huddle resembling a group of penquins on an iceberg an emotional speech by the skipper which brought tears to the eyes of all was followed by a quick dash to the showers and onto the bar for Jack to educate the ref on the intricacies of the front row.

Big thanks for everyone who showed up especially the Dukes boys and a well fought win. Next week we are back to league action with play-off rivals Rosslyn Park hoping to put a dent in our champions league aspirations with the game at ‘Stade REMPF’.

M.o.M Andrew Preston

D.o.t.D Terry (Think he genuinely thought he was dying after being winded)

Squad

1. Tom Lowe 2. Will Murray 3. Jack Davidson 4. Dan Masters 5. Joe Forster 6. Ian Dowie 7. Andrew Preston 8. Chris Turner 9. Peter Boele 10. Kael O’Sullivan 11. Ben Harknett 12. Joby Newton (c) 13. Phil Studt 14. Terry Hanley 15. Andy Collie. SUB Pete Myatt

#Upthechoughs