OC's 38 - 17 Mitcham

The OCs hosted Mitcham this weekend. As an unknown quantity, the OCs were a little apprehensive about facing this south London side.

Conditions: dry but very windy.

From the off, it was noticeable that there was a battle to be had. Firstly, it was a battle of the forwards. Mitcham with their bulky forwards against the more agile and 'slim' OC side. Secondly a battle of the backs with the OCs sporting once again an awesome midfield against the scrawny backline of Mitcham.

In the first 20 minutes, there was not much to differentiate the sides. A huge tackle by Rob on their prop was the highlight in what was a mediocre 20 minutes. As expected, Mitcham retained a lot of ball through their forwards and their nippy fly half exploited the gaps behind the backs with probing kicks. The OC backs did not quite fire on all cylinders as they have been doing all season and found it a bit of a struggle to get ball to hand in the windy conditions. Matt Mann kept the OC back line on track with some excellent runs from fly half and even better kicking from hand.

However, it was the midfield in the form of Simmo that scored two quick tries in succession gave the OCs the early lead they were looking for. Having noticed that they had a 5'6", 8 stone fly half, being the accountant Simmo is, he literally weighed up the options and favoured the heavyweight v super bantum weight competition and ran over him as Lomu did Mike Catt. Matt Mann comfortably converted in front of the posts.

Mitcham did not throw down their swords though. From a solid scrum on the left the ball reached Kev Ho who ran across the field (deliberately to avoid the huge tackles awaiting him) to offload to their winger who was hauled down by Benny Gibbs just short of the line. Though the superior support of the Mitcham side at the break down told and they scored their first try of the match.

What followed was probably the most all inclusive piece of play the OCs have put together this season. It came initially from a ruck and some good work from the tight five who secured quick ball with some aggressive, if little unnecessary, rucking. Rich Butler took the ball to Mitcham for further confrontation and was gifted time and space to run wherever he so pleased. Eventually, the gas ran out and it was time to swing the ball wide left. A short pop by Euan Kenworthy to Simmo storming on his inside added further yardage over the gain line. A quick pick up by Boscoe from the breakdown, now eyeing the line, took the ball forward but was dragged down just short. However, a pop up to the steamin' Dan Unsworth with 3 yards to the line finished the move superbly. A sure contender for try of the season.

Eventually, Simmo having scored his hatrick, Josh having scored none and the OCs with a comfortable 38 points, by the end of the game, it was all Mitcham. Their bulky forwards at last realised that keeping it amongst the pack was the only way they could possibly score points. A couple of tries from their Mr Pork Pie and Tub o' Lard flattered their ability to score tries but on the day, much deserved as it was a good forwards performance from Mitcham.

All in all it was an OK performance. The OCs were happy to win but knew they could have done a lot more damage and cannot afford to take their foot off the gas at any stage of the game.

Kev Ho