OCs v Warlingham 2nd XV : 27-7 win

There are times when you must ask yourself not what can the OCs do for you, but what can you do for the OCs. Henry Brace and Ian Jones asked themselves the latter question on Saturday and unfortunately the answer was “you can make your debut at prop and hooker respectively”.

It’s not clear what had happened to the four regular props but let’s just say that business was booming at a certain branch of Dunkin Donuts over the weekend. Fortunately, the fixture secretary located a spare prop (Robert Coles making his OC debut) to complete the front row while browsing www.props4u.com. The brave sacrifice from Henry and Ian paid dividends as, despite several scrums being a bit ropey, we more than made up for it in all other aspects of the forwards arena.

As is so often the case, we were up against a bigger pack, but as usual, our organisation and talent came to the fore with Si P-W and George Thornhill setting the pace with expert ball smuggling and recycling. Si did particularly well to perform at this level, having been described by one of our backs as “a scrawny individual”

Josh’s Crie de Coeur last week about tardiness was in part answered by the squad this week and the majority turned up on time to allow the squad to be properly warmed up drilled. This undoubtedly helped us get off to a flying start and we set a standard that we maintained for 80 minutes (and thanks for those who were late for buying the now standard penalty jugs afterwards)

The line out was firing well with Henry restored to throwing duties finding Josh and a newly engaged Dan Unsworth on all occasions. This was a delight for the backs who were being regularly teed up by Tom H and Kev’s distribution. We welcomed back Simo to the centres after a 4 week eating workshop and his early combinations with Euan were causing the oppo some trouble.

Before long we were 2 tries to the good with Simo and Tom crossing over. As we piled on the pressure, the cracks were beginning to show with the oppo and before long we had a mini-punch up. George, Dan, Josh were in the thick of it and Simo finally showing some pace to hurtle into the fray from 25 yards away. Fortunately, the self appointed ‘defuser’, Kev Ho was quickly at hand to manage the situation.

On the injury front, it was a disappointing afternoon for Euan and Barnsey. Fresh from the honour of being appointed team captain for the season, the prison hug he received from Don Dewerson in the showers before the match proved to be a costly one as a fractured rib will keep him out for a few weeks. Barnsey fared even worse managing to pull not one but three muscles in the warmup.

Back to the game though and it was an admirable performance on front row debut for Ian despite although confidence was not inspired before the game as he firstly managed to forget his boots and then his enquiry of "do you actually hook?" being one of the most stupid questions ever. Rob Coles and Si P-W were getting themselves around with plenty of carries and yards in both halves and it wasn’t long before there were more tries for the backs. Huw was making his OC debut but only lasted 5 minutes at his preferred second row position before making an Andy Farrell style switch to centre following Euan’s departure. The change didn’t worry Huw as he played his part in setting up the back three to fill their boots in the second half.

Firstly, Paul Kellett crossed over following some outrageous link up play and a break from Simo followed by a rare pass. Kellett celebrating his first wearing of his Chausettes Rose. Secondly it was Phil Fretwell’s turn, scoring his first for the OCs in the opposite corner following some excellent phase play and an excellent missed pass from Kev to Paul Chappell.

Paul wrapped things up with a late fifth, but should have had two following a tragic bit of handling in the corner earlier in the match. Paulos has a busy afternoon as the oppo seemed intent on sending aimless kicks to him and most were run back with interest.

As the game wore on, we endured one prolonged period of pressure as we were stuck on our line for 5 minutes. Our defence was solid and resilient and was summed up by Phil’s tackle on their fatter second row putting him on the deck, sadly landing on Phil’s leg and ruling him out of the last 10 minutes bringing the already limping Barnsey onto the field. Eventually, they breached the defences but only once they had an enforced breather to lift one of their stricken men off the field.

It has to be mentioned that yet again, we seemed to be up against pikier opposition as they continued to dish out the cheap punches, not least from their scrum half. The referee failed to get a grip on this and even when Josh whimpered to their captain to stop slapping him they wouldn’t give it up.

Special mention must also go to the supporters, dubbed “the sixteenth man” by some, a 5 strong group of butler, VJ, gelder, Galaun Jnr and Kenworthy snr provided support that undoubtedly had a huge impact on the game.

Overall, this was a sound win and provides evidence that we will be a force in this league if we can keep our momentum up and continue to turn up early.

The Chausettes D’Or went to Si P-W for his all round work in the loose although as one (possibly envious) centre confessed earlier this week that he felt it should have gone to a back... Josh also picked up his Chausettes Rose for reaching his 25th cap.

OVJ