G's v Twickenham

Saint Hill has come to enjoy the growing status of its men's 1st XV in the last couple of years, as back-to-back promotions, including an undefeated season and an impressive national cup run, have finally seen EGRFC arrive back in "the London leagues" (what used to be London 2 SW is now Counties 1 Surrey/Sussex). After a long pre-season to prepare the squad for the unknown challenges ahead, the day finally came when we welcomed Twickenham to kick off the new season with a bang.

After an excellent training week and confidence gently building in the warm-up, a bang is certainly what we got. Before either side had completely settled into the first half, captain John Peaty and vice-captain Dan Poulton had both left the field injured. A physical, battle-hardened Twickenham side came at us hard in the opening exchanges but the sides seemed well-matched as Oli Billin nudged EG into a 3-0 lead.

Those two injuries tested our 18-man squad, but versatile options were ready on the bench in Dave Bridges and Elliot Martin-Drew, and Max Crawley-Moore was ready to lead the side for the remaining hour.

Despite past successes, however, this league was always going to bring new challenges to test us in new ways that no amount of pre-season sweat could prepare us for. To quote Mike Tyson - "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth".

The team game gave their all, but the forwards struggled against a big, well-drilled pack in the lineout and couldn't sustain periods of dominance in the scrum. In open play, Twickenham showed their experience with a pragmatic kicking game and taking their chances when they arose, while too often EG were let down by the last pass and limited possession and territory coming from the set piece.

The home crowd was eventually given something to cheer about with Jake Radcliffe dancing past defenders down the touchline for a hard-earned try, but the Twickenham captain admitted that the final score of 8-48 exaggerated the difference between the two teams.

Ever-loquacious Ryland Thomas was rewarded with the MOTM jacket for being a thorn in Twickenham's side, and being a marked man for most of the game. Among other excellent individual performances and moments of brilliance, however, the abiding memories will be of the individual and team errors that will cost us in this league. Twickenham will go well this season, and now EGRFC knows the scale of the mountain we have to climb. Back to base camp on Tuesday evening...