Tries: Will P, Stanley H

Conversions; Ben B 2

Having opened the door to greet Millfield and lain down on the doormat for them to wipe their feet on us (7-0) we woke up…playing into the wind we kept the ball in hand and made some good ground with particularly effective running from Charlie D, Patrick R, Jack H-I and Stanley H. Our line speed also improved and eventually we forced them back to their line where Will P snatched an intercept to score. Millfield did not have any props so we were reduced to uncontested scrums which benefited them considerably; they had more pace than us, although it was not put to good use initially.

At half time it was 7-7 and then we became a little disjointed due to a raft of substitutions; Millfield were able to cut through our midfield to make it 14-7; they then did this twice more and Patrick R and George B saved us with outstanding defence. Stan H then scored a great try after we had kept possession for a while and Ben B landed a super conversion from wide out to level it up. We then had to start acting as a feeder club with the A team requiring the services of Ollie M, Jack H-I and Ben B.

Playing without our first-choice half backs was tough and during the reshuffle we lost midfield cohesion again and another Millfield speedster cut through and was gone. 21-14, but there was still time for us to get down their end. Millfield were resorting to some tactics that were not strictly within the laws and rather than keep our heads we lacked a bit of coolness with the line beckoning and failed to take 2 really good chances.

We again played with passion, but need to work on two aspects: midfield defence and securing the ball – too often Millfield were first to the rucks.