Wanstead 38 - 12 BERFC

Nineteen players made the trip around the North Circular for our first encounter with Wanstead Rugby Club. Only six of those had made the starting line-up in our league winning victory against Ruislip a week ago – so this was an opportunity for those lacking game time recently – and a chance for players to catch the coaches’ eyes and stake a claim for a place in next season’s league squad.

A bracing damp morning, with a sloping pitch – which Barnet were forced to defend in the first half. With no recognised fly-half making the journey, Miles was volunteered to try his hand – and Liam moved from flanker to fullback.

Wanstead made good use of the slope, and with a couple of strong running backs were soon two converted tries to the good as the Barnet backs found themselves stuck in their 22. With a few helpful hints from the coaches ringing in their ears, jumper, up and stick – the Barnet forwards began to claw their way up the slope – and with 15 minutes gone Matthew closed the gap to 14 – 7 .

The remaining 15 minutes of the first half saw Barnet play a much cannier game – trying to keep the ball tighter in the forwards and not trying to kick into the headwind, but Wanstead were able to cross the line once more, with a particularly well angled run to bring the half time score to 19 – 7 .

With Miles departing for the bright lights of Twickenham, Liam moved up to fly-half, Pav moved to fullback, and Jack made his debut on the right wing.

With the slope and the wind now in Barnet’s favour, the majority of the game was played in the same 22 metres at the bottom of the slope – with Barnet knocking on the door, but Wanstead repelling all boarders.

With 15 minutes remaining, and still no further score, an injury to Lorenzo and another reshuffle, with Sam coming on into the front row, River moving to flanker, and Cuddles!! in at scrum half – left us with a nine and ten at sixes and sevens, or was it the other way around?

Still Barnet pressed – with Sam touching down over the line, but numerous Wanstead hands reaching the ball before the ref’s eyes did. Minutes later a kick from behind the Wanstead line was fielded by a player 5 yards in front of play – and Cuddles quick tap penalty and we were back in the game 19 -12 with 10 minutes to play – or so we thought. Wanstead replied immediately, and then added two more tries – to finish the game 38 -12 .

A hard fought game for 50 minutes, with several players out of position – but we ran out of steam at the end – and Wanstead capitalised, using their large squad to good effect. We know all too well how that works – having used it successfully to our advantage in league fixtures this season. Nonetheless, a decent performance from a mixed side – with some poor decision making early on costing us a couple of tries.

Praise from the referee afterwards for the spirit in which the game was played by both sides - and well done to the Wanstead squad.

Faint praise also for Batman and Robin (or was it Del and Rodney) – our very own Care and Farrell - the dynamic duo at 9 and 10. Don't give up the back row just yet :-)

Mentions in despatches:
River – a good spell at flanker
Joel – keep up the aggression
Harry - One day, all rugby players will be made this way