The expression Friday Night Lights usually evokes thoughts of running rugby on a dry, still night and an occasion to be remembered but this game will be long remembered for very different reasons. It was wet, windy and cold, and the well used pitch was significantly more mud than grass. What little grass that had been left on the pitch at the start of the game was long gone by the final whistle.
The Buccaneers had a squad of that contained (very) old hands and some newer recruits and Beccehamians were similarly equipped but with a significantly larger bench, which combined with the size of their forwards it seemed as if Club might be in for a long night. Indeed the hosts started strongly with successive tight carries by big forwards that made strong inroads to Club territory. The initial exchanges at the scrum also saw Beccs having an edge there too, and they were the first to register a score. Clubs defence was strong despite the early setback however and once able to get a good period of possession, the more mobile pack and the backline that contained more several regular Bandits from their league side saw them moving Beccs around a lot and most of the game was spent in their half and soon French Alex scored the first of his five trys.
The Club backs, ably marshalled by JP playing at fly half for the first time, created havoc with pace, running lines and handling that belied the conditions but it was the work of the forwards that contained the strong home pack and whose carries created the space in which the backline could work.
As the game progressed it became harder and harder to tell who was who, as the only person not covered head to toe in mud was the referee, who did a remarkable job managing the game. By the end the players were unrecognisable so the only way to tell who was a team mate was the direction they were facing – if they were running towards you, you tackled them and running away then you ran support.
The final whistle saw Club 24-45 winners and through to the Final of the Spitfire Vets Cup. Credit goes in a large part to Chris ‘Tex’ Young, a long time Club player, who has been the driving force behind getting the Vets sides out this season, since he took on the reins from John Hull.
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