Chipstead 2's opening league day win.

With the 1st XV winning their opening Surrey 1 league match right before the game (they arranged an earlier KO to be in the bar for the RWC) the 2's were under a little bit of pressure to also hit the floor running.
With only 20 mins to KO we were still at 13 (Ollie having decided to see if there were any Old Blues players needing a lift back to our club house and Jack & Harry running late) things were not looking particularly bright. Old Blues were having troubles of their own and would only be start with 14 anyway (one due at half time).

By the time of KO we were up to full strength and even had a couple of extras !

Playing with the slight slop in the first half Chipstead wanted to try and push the advantage and get early points on the board but the Old Blues defence stood firm and the extra player just couldn't be brought to make the difference and their electric paced number 12 looked dangerous when ever play opened up.

The high-light of the half was when Jonathon 'SKILLS' Philips ran almost un-touched from the half way line to score his first ever senior try in his 13th year at the club ! Well deserved.

Although the board was not showing too much difference the fatigue was almost visible in the Old Blues forwards and just before half time lost two further players to injuries. With the laws of the game Chipstead would have also had to drop two additional players (you are only allowed one more player on the field than the opposition) so in an extraordinary show of unselfishness Chey Dupe (yes the director of Rugby) switched sides and decided to run out for the opposition with the additional player turning up meant they were able to stay at 14. In an almost identical show of generosity, given it was 21-12, Coach Ed also only sent Chipstead out with 14 players !

Ed soon spotted the mistake and that in turn changed the game whilst the Old Blues pack showed dominance in the tight their back line was being run ragged by some excellent rugby with Jo Perceval at 10 running the game.
The hard yards in mid-field being created by Ollie and Bridgey allowing time for the back row to clear up the scraps and regularly release the ball for tries.
The OB's centre continued to back excellent breaks but often even too fast for his support - Chey tried his hardest not to score against the Chips even giving a pass to a supporting player when he was practically over the line only for the OB's player to knock it on.
Jack Truelove helped himself to a brace of tries hitting lines from fall-back and the old guard of Alex 'Bronson' Elbrow greedily picked up a hatrick - obviously trying to impress his brother for the difficult selection discussion for next weeks' matches.

Although under the cosh in the set plays (train together play together !) the forwards made up for it with the support running and defensive tackles

The eventual score of 62-19 was unfair on the Old Blues as they had played hard throughout.

Tries: SKILLS, Jack x2, Alex x3, Ollie, Reece, Joe
Conv: Joe x6, Matt x1
Pen: Joe
MOM: George Moody and Jack Truelove