I guess they wanted it more than us – they were well up for it – a game of two halves. Enough of the clichés!

Despite a ponderous start we did score first with an excellent, off the base of the srum run from Dylan, converted by Ben. Generally, however Twickenham were more aggressive; our rucking was
too upright and tackling poor in the first half (not by everyone; Ross Lynch and Josh lead the way). We gave them far too much time to run at us, standing off rather than putting them under pressure – manner from heaven for their No 8 and excellent Centre. Our persistent offending at the breakdown cost us dear too – the penalty ratio must have been 5:1.

Ben is always aggressive in his defence. Unfortunately, mid-way through the first half, he suffered a broken nose. We wish him a speedy recovery.

At half-time we were 15-7 down. We would have been much closer but for the odd unfortunate fumble with the line beckoning.

After the break we played much better; much more aggressive at the ruck and we started to win some decent ball. Dylan and Evan were conspicuous with their efforts. But well done to all the pack for this turnaround.

Matthew scored in the corner after some good handling, and Paddy added to our tally with a thunderous run. Paddy made a great debut, with several powerful bursts and one huge hit must have given him great delight (it did me!). Another debutant, Luke Harvey-Smith, showed us what he could do with limited attacking opportunities. His defence was solid too.

There was a particularly pleasing passage of play, when Twickenham were camped in our 22 for several minutes. We kept them out and showed in that period that our defence can be strong. As the match wore on, we started to miss Ben. The game broke down a little and there were plenty of occasions were his pacey sidestep would have told.

A much more encoraging second half. In fact, with two debutants and several players playing out of position not a bad result at all.

Well done guys.

Man of the Match – Paddy.