Well, what a week and what a day!

We started the week with 20 players and come match day, we had 16, losing a player to the 1^st XV, very well done to Logan Flint, sickness, and sudden unavailability.  Get well soon gents.  The 3’s had their game go down so players stepped up and Andrew Quick (13 & 8) found he had a gap in his calendar, so also put on his boots.  The weather was fair, a bit chilly, with a stiff breeze and the rain, which was always threatening came along just after half-time.

A bit of a staggered and sometimes very loose warm-up, some nervousness, but a willingness to get going was evident.

A good start with both sides feeling each other out, with Rosslyn Park trying to hit hard from the off, but 1871 remaining steadfast and not being phased by the heavier RP side.  After 10 minutes 1871 said that’s enough and Kavan Fitzpatrick (8) sniped from a breakdown, after 1871 turned over a RP ball and put the pall down under the sticks.  Liam Mulvihill (10) slotted the extra 2 points.

For their previous efforts Rosslyn Park came right back 3 minutes later after winning their scrum had their fastest player (15) hit a hard line and he continued through the gap to score.  They also took the extra points to bring the scores level again.

Who would blink first?  Unfortunately for Rosslyn Park, at 24 minutes they couldn’t keep their eyes open and after conceding a no release penalty, the fired up Kavan Fitzpatrick, quickly tapped and crashed through a gap to score and to earn his brace, with Liam Mulvihill taking the extra points.  At 33 minutes Rosslyn Park conceded a penalty for standing up in a scrum and once again Kavan Fitzpatrick couldn’t resist the invite, so quickly tapped and crashed through players throwing himself at the line to score his hat-trick.  This is when it turned a bit sour, as he dislocated his shoulder in the landing and was audibly and visibly (I kid you not, I was about 50 mtrs away!!!) in pain and the surrounding players turned away sharply.  Strange how it works.  The head physio for the pros, Alex Holland, just happened to have just parked his car near to the pitch and the ever vigilant Andrew Quick grabbed him to assist.  Within seconds of looking at Kavan, he calmly sorted out the shoulder and helped Kavan to his feet and off the pitch, then just as calmly as he arrived, he left.  When you have the experts on hand…. 😊

Back to the game, Liam Mulvihill again took the extra points.

One of the tries of the day for me came just before the half.  At 37 minutes, after winning the lineout penalty, Callum Clayton-Smith (1) then carried hard into contact sucking a number of Rosslyn Park players into the breakdown, Johnnie O’Neill (16) also carried hard into the short space, sucking in more players, as Hugo Rocco (4) forcibly cleared out the threat, then instead of continuing the same way, the call came from Liam Mulvihill to rewind, where Niko Laqueretabua (7), Callum Clayton-Smith and Dan Nethercote (14) were waiting.  Harry Mear (9) zipped the ball past Niko into Callum’s hands, who drew the defender and passed to Dan who held his space and went over in the corner.  A really great try, which also brought up the four try bonus point.  Liam Mulvihill then hit the ball sweetly to take the extra points.

Calm heads and stay grounded in the half time chat.

Eager to go at it again, it only took 2 minutes, of really smart play, to score.  This time Callum Clayton-Smith stole the fumbled Rosslyn Park lineout and passed it out after gaining some crucial wide metres, then Andrew Quick carried gaining go forward metres, for Callum to again carry and gain a couple and draw more Rosslyn Park players in creating space out wide.  The call for the re-wind came this time from Luke Beasley (5), so Harry Mear out to Liam Mulvihill, who flat passed to Jonathan Oh (2), who ran hard and straight, through the Rosslyn Park gap created in part from Luke Beasley asking for the ball and making them bit in on him.  Jonathan, with excellent footwork, drew the defender into him and passed inside to Kimani Goppy who was moving at pace and in acres of space to go over for another great try.  Once again, Liam Mulvihill slotted the extras.  Two really good tries either side of the half and Jonathan Oh’s celebration was excellent.

As in the first half, Rosslyn Park wanted reward for their efforts and 2 minutes later after knocking hard at the door saw a gap in the framework and took advantage of the lack of cover and slipped through to score.  The took the extra points and gave themselves a bit of impetus to go forward some more.  However, 1871 had other ideas and 5 minutes later, after all of the work that he had been putting in Jonathan Oh scored himself off of another rewind call this time called by Andrew Quick, after a very had carry by Niko Laqeretabua, who seemed to knock a Rosslyn Park player senseless at an attempted tackle.  Andrew Quick saw the number advantage, called it and when Harry Mear passed it, showed textbook deft quick hands to put Jonathan into space.  Jonathan then ran around the last defender and in towards the posts to make some sort of splash dive to score.  Not sure that Chris Ashton has anything to worry about with that effort.  Once again Liam Mulvihill took the extra points.

Rosslyn Park came back to score with their traditional forward play work, making inroads through the middle and round the fringes every time, before seeing another gap and going through it.  They also took the extra points.

The next 14 minutes was a battle of wills going back and forth up, down and across the pitch, but once again Rosslyn Park blinked first as they fumbled a play and it was pounced on with a grubber kick ahead by Johnnie O’Neill and the chase by Danny O’Sullivan (12), always the interception maestro, beating the scrabbling Rosslyn Park defenders to score.  The metronome, that is Liam Mulvihill, again took the extra points.  The final score came from Ollie McAllister (6) who as ever did his job well throughout the game and was in the right place, at the right time off the back of some good phases of play and hit a nice hard line through a gap.  Slotting the next conversion, Liam Mulvihill made it eight out of eight for the day.