BERFC 12 - 0 Saracens Bs

A bright but chilly morning as we welcomed Saracens to Byng Road. Despite the steady rainfall over the previous week, the colts pitch had held up well – and with first dibs on the pitches, we abandoned the first team pitch to the U13s.

We’d played Saracens many times over the years – but this was our first real competitive fixture, and with many of the boys schoolmates, and with Saracens fielding 2 ex Barnet players, this was always going to be a keenly contested local derby.

Unlike our previous league match, everyone and his wife wanted to play in this game – the boys were turning up on stretchers, on crutches, and in wheelchairs – wheel me on coach, I’ll be alright – but you’ve got an arm missing – I’ve had worse, it’s only a flesh wound

Saracens B squad had lost a player or two in the run up, but these were quickly replaced with A squad players, so we knew we’d be in for a tough game. A quick warm up, a quick chunder on the sidelines for Cap’n Pratt (pre-match nerves or post Saturday overindulgence) – and we were ready to rumble.

And rumble we did – right from the kick off Barnet made inroads into the Saracens half. A long kick out was fielded by Miles at fullback, and returned with a terrific run, linking up with Kadeem , who was held up on the 22 metre line. All the forwards joined the maul and drove it the remaining distance – and it collapsed in a heap over the Saracens try line. From the ensuing five metre scrum Barnet were a try to the good, leading 7 – 0.

We’d noticed Saracens appeared to be playing a variation on the U15s rules – they insisted that the scrum half was allowed to follow around past the tunnel – whereas we believed that U15s rules stated that the defending scrum half is not allowed to encroach beyond the tunnel. The ref was unsure – so we played to Saracens rules.

This made the game quite scrappy as both scrum halves pounced on one another regularly, leading to a lack of clean ball from the back of scrums.

As the half progressed, Saracens began to gain a foothold in the game, and their well drilled style of play saw them make inroads into Barnet territory. For a long period of play Barnet found themselves camped in their own half - but they showed terrific determination to repel the invading Saracens hoards, twice defending 5 metre scrums – and the half time whistle blew with our lead intact.

Half time saw the poor old ref surrounded by a hoard of clip board wielding Saracens officials – in what resembled a Saturday stroll along Barnet High street trying to dodge the Charity Muggers.

The second half kicked off with the low winter sun in the Barnet eyes – and Saracens made good use of the elements with several high kicks. Again, ball out of the scrum was mainly scrappy for both teams, with neither side able to make good use of their back division.

The game was a real battle of attrition, with neither side prepared to give an inch, but the strength in depth of the Barnet squad once again paid dividends. With Harry finally succumbing to the pressure in the front row due to his injury from a fortnight ago, we were forced to roll Sam back on sooner than we’d planned. With Lawrence and Matthew soon returning to the affray having taken a breather, the physicality of the Barnet pack once again began to reassert itself – and slowly we began to turn the screw and regain the upper hand in scrums and rucks.

As the clock ticked down, the ball finally worked it's way along our backs, and with a 2 vs 1, Eddie stood his man up perfectly, released the ball to Louis, who once again opened his legs and showed his class galloping in from the half way line, saluting the touchline with a regal wave and touching down for our second try – and a 12-0 lead.

With ten minutes remaining, and more fresh legs on the pitch, Barnet were in no mood now to relinquish their lead – even giving Louis one more run – which ended with slight concussion for the 2 Saracens players who managed to halt his charge.

As the final whistle blew, the Barnet players celebrated another hard fought victory. We’ve had to dig deep in all of our league games – and the strength in depth we now have has seen us through on each of those occasions.

The guys in our back row, Liam, Cuddles, Kadeem, Sajjad, Afam and Andreas must have covered many acres between them during the game – and put in numerous crunching tackle – and the bigger boys in the front five brought that physicality to the game – with Sam dominant in the front row, and Lol and Matthew bringing that much needed grit and determination. With Tom St, Blaze, Baran and Harry also putting in a terrific shift – the boys are all working for one another now.

Not really a day for the backs – but they did a job, tackled everything in front of them, and showed that killer instinct to execute the one real chance they had.

What was also great to see was the support from players and their parents who didn't make the starting 22 - which emphasises the camaraderie within the larger sqauad.

Some days you gotta win ugly – but boy, was it beautiful (you get me, bruv?). Bragging rights to the Barnet boys at school this week, and next week, and the week after...... :-)