15 squad members and their committed parents pitched up this glorious Sunday morning. We were thus able to field two teams against Whitehall’s one, with the first match played by Poppy, Archie, Ryan, Jaybez, Leon, Finlay, Daniel; the second by Frank, Joe T, Kili, Jacob, George, Patrick, Jenson, Reg.

We knew it was going to be a tough couple of games when Whitehall had their first run at us: they attacked at speed running through several of our players with good support to pass to. Many of their runs from kick-off thus resulted in tries. In defence they were disciplined, and held their line better than most teams we have played so far. This called for an extra special effort from our teams, and they rose to the occasion. Some determined faces there!

Let's hope we'll again get to play Whitehall, and more teams like them, next season.

In the first game, BP started off being somewhat taken aback by WH’s disciplined, confident attacking. It took us a little while to get back into aggressive defending thereby pressurising the opposition and pushing them backwards, forcing errors. This is a particularly important against fast teams such as WH. Once they get to full speed it is pretty impossible to catch and tag, or tackle (think next season). Tagging steadily improved , eventually giving us the edge in the second half. BP’s attacking was brilliantly confident throughout. It was great to see everyone having a go at running at the opposition and making some ground: Archie and Jaybez finding gaps through the middle and pushing past the gain-line before off-loading, our new players Poppy and Daniel blasting off towards the corners, and Leon, Ryan and Finlay linking up to score wide from starting in the middle.
Leon got man of the match for demon tagging and outstanding performance in all areas of the game.

The second game was less tightly defended which meant more tries on both sides. WH still had plenty of energy left and continued their fast attacking play which appeared pretty unstoppable. But our lads where not to be outdone. Many runs from kick-off resulted in tries, and few balls were lost to errors. Again, everyone got involved in the attacks and making good ground - George scything through the middle, Jacob confidently running at the opposition with the body position of a pro, Patrick doing that forwards-sideways stepping move which no-one can defend against, Reg and Kili finding the gaps through the middle and Frank, Joe T and Jenson scoring out wide.

Man of the Match went to Frank for nippy and effective footwork and outstanding performance in all areas of the game.