OC's 27 - 18 Old Oundelians

The Calcutta Cup, The Grand National, The FA Cup Final and now it seems there is another fixture to grace the sporting calendar - the OCs dishing it out to the boys from Oundle. It was the anniversary of the inaugural fixture between these sides and both had evidently used the past year to strengthen their teams resulting in a thrilling fixture being offered up to a grateful and unusually large crowd in sunny Battersea Park.

With the talismanic Mann brothers both ruled out due to absence and injury it was with great delight that the team welcomed spiritual leader Ian Jones. Ian's record to date was a string of groinal injuries that had excluded him from over six hours of victorious OC rugby. Happily he had given up whatever activity was causing this infliction.

The match itself kicked off to a furious start with the OCs gaining early territorial advantage. However, their Achilles Heel so often this season has been a failure to convert pressure to points and it was little surprise when Oundle stormed to the other end and chipped over a drop goal.

Before long though, the powerful OC forwards were driving the opposition back and Tom Humphreys was providing the service from scrum half to the backs. A probing run by Kev Ho put Josh Brown into space and before long the ball had been worked to Paul Kellet on the wing to stretch over in the corner for the opening try.

The big hits were being put in now across the midfield from both sides. Flankers Evered and Dewerson were stifling the opposition's quality of possession and putting them on the back foot and Sam Blackmore was doing likewise at centre. Before long it was a clever run by Kev that created the overlap with Matt Boardman joining the line from full back and Kellet was over in the same corner for his second.

Further pressure was applied by the Clifton forwards and the props Cowan and Cussen battered into the Oundle defence the opposition had no choice but to dive over the top and Boardman slotted over the penalty. Oundle mustered some late pressure and their centre, Unwin, charged through but was bashed back just ten yards from the line by big Josh Galaun enabling the OCs to enter half time ten points up.

Half time saw the OCs flex their powerful squad with Alex Evered and Nick Cussen replaced by Ernie Hansen and debutant George Brace. The baying crowd were made to wait to see Ian Jones make his debut in the light blue of Clifton.

It was another rousing team talk from Kev and Chris and the team responded with more passion. A key aspect of the OC's dominance throughout the game was the line out. Chris' throw ins were accurate, Josh, Nick C and George had developed a seriously good lifting technique that Oundle would have been proud of and Dan Unsworth and Charles Mansour were largely unchallenged as they helped themselves to plenty of quality possession.

Tom was making the most of this quality ball and was helping Josh Brown, Kev and Sam find plenty of room in the midfield but it was the quality of forward support that was crucial in maintaining the momentum and following a powerful charge by George Brace, Ernie Hansen was at hand to pick up and drive over - touching down with an expert one handed finish. Matt slotted over the conversion.

At this point, influential skipper Kev had to depart with an injury, allowing Jones to make his debut. Jones had earlier made an appearance on the field in the back row for Oundle with a woeful five minute spell that left the opposition in no doubt which team he represented, but this time he lined up at centre for the OCs.

With the team seemingly out of sight, the Oundelians staged something of a comeback - a long kick ahead led to an attacking scrum and the OCs were stretched and conceded a try under the posts.

This did not dampen the spirits though, and the champagne rugby was beginning to come out, a trademark of OC rugby that some of the stalwart supporters, Ali, Anne-Marie, Steve, Ian and Anna, have become accustomed to over the past season.

Henry Brace, having a quiet game by his standards, caught a kick over the top and drove forward and was well supported in the tackle. Tom Humphreys spied the overlap on the blindside and Don Dewerson provided the link to Owen VJ on the wing and his extraordinary pace was there for all to see. Expertly drawing his man, he popped the ball to Boardman on the outside. Oundle were stretched and the ball was recycled swiftly in the tackle and the ball was spirited out to the other wing where the Kellet was on hand to complete his hat-trick.

Crucially, Matt Boardman was able to convert from the touchline - giving him a confidence in his kicking ability that would shortly prove to be sorely unfounded.

With only about 15 minutes to go and the OCs out of sight, the performance degenerated into temporary fiasco. The champagne had clearly gone to the heads of many of the team and none more so that two of the lighter members of the team, Tom (once) and Matt Boardman (twice), mistakenly thought they had the ability to send a drop goal over from 30 yards. Combined with some erratic passing from the rest of the team, the OCs contrived to concede 10 points and it was with great relief that the OCs greeted the final whistle.

Special mention must go to Kev and Jonesy for kindly going onto the opposition side at various points in the game when they were short of numbers, to the Oundle team for giving us our toughest game to date and to the large number of supporters who cheered us on.

Post match rugby and refreshments had been expertly laid on by the talented OC management and the only disappointment was that Wales could not polish off England in the rugby. Always a social side, the OCs enjoyed a beer with the opposition, but none were more keen than Josh Brown who was heard talking up the opposition centre saying "…that Matt has got a set of thighs on him…". Make of that what you will……..

Moment of the match was undoubtedly Sam Blackmore winding self styled 'big unit' Oundle fullback Mike Graham to the extent that big Mike had to stagger off the field teary-eyed. Man of the match was also Sam, as his big hits had kept us on top of the physical battle. Overall, a great performance and a great win.

Owen VJ