With a weakened squad (due to our Saturday exertions) we all turned up for an earlier start at Finchley. Having not played them before I wasn't quite sure of the standard but on the phone their coaches seemed to have the right ethos.

With only 13 players (but we knew we'd be light due to holidays etc) we decided to opt for a series of matches to ensure the Finchley squad all got to play. What followed was some lovely rugby from both Finchley and Barnet, played in exactly the right spirit by all participants.

On balance I believe we won the vast majority of the 4 matches (if not all of the contests) but Finchley gave us a good run for our money. Some notable performances from my point:

- Some great calling and running onto the ball from Adem. He consistently broke the gain line with this technique and has now mastered the pop pass offload from the floor, which he used to great effect.
- After an initial lacklustre showing in the opening few minutes, Ben Shelton showed what impact motivation and hunger to do well can have on your own performance. Some great tackling and speed off the defensive line.
- Alex Mason with some excellent ball carrying skills. HE ran with real purpose and was a real handful for Finchley, who did well to contain him but it needed a number of them to stop him.
- Matthew Woods consistently moved the ball at speed from the breakdown area. Great reading of the game Matthew, ensuring we recycled the ball.
- Se O'Toole some lovely short runs with the ball, beating players with sidesteps. In the dying minutes of the final game, Se put into practice a good deal of what he has learned, beating 2 players and popping a pass from the ground to an oncoming support runner. Excellent.
- Ryan had a number of chances with the ball and produced a lovely offload out of the tackle. Excellent unselfish play to keep the ball alive Ryan.
- Alex Simbari used his strength to good effect, ripping the ball a number of times from the opposition. Another notable occasion for me was his ability to stay infield, having received the ball right out on the wing from 4 phases of play. He managed to stay infield and ensure he got the ball back, despite 3 defenders on him. Great awareness of his surroundings. Well done.
- Great timing of his running from Fintan, who having come straight from his winning ways the day before, once again rekindled his tackling ways, showing great commitment in diving for the oppositions legs.
- Louis had a number of carries which was good to see and tried really hard when laying the ball back to ensure it came out on our side.
- Harry Tupper showed how much gas, gas, gas he had with some superb turns of speed to outstrip the Finchley boys on a number of occasions.
- Thank you to Luca, James, Harry, Daniel and Fintan for playing 2 days in a row. I know you were all tired but it was greatly appreciated.

As a coach it was great to see the spirit in which we played and the fluidity with which you were able to cope with players being substituted in en mass. It is extremely difficult to play with continuity when this happens but I thought we all did really well. Likewise, in the main, we executed our set piece free passes well. Each one created space for us to exploit, which is their aim. We do not expect to score off these. They are designed to give us a little more room and ensure forward momentum.

Things to work on...

- Tackling: Still too many missed tackles or boys not attempting to make a tackle. This is something we will work on this coming Sunday.
- Alignment: Still too many boys being sucked in to where the ball is rather than holding their position and trusting that the ball will come to them.
- Rucking: We rucked too high all day. We must get lower if we are to win more ball.
- Defensive alignment: We did well because some boys were really fast off our defensive line but others were absent. Just because you are not near the ball in defense does not mean you do not have a job to do. Everyone needs to be on the gain line, ready to run up and put pressure on the opposition.
- Running straight when the ball is passed down the line. In the main our handling was really good, but too often we drifted when we passed the ball down the line, squeezing our 'wingers' into touch.

All in all a really solid performance with a number of excellent individual moments.

Really well done to you all. We showed some great character, played with a beautiful spirit and came out on top.

For those at and not at Allianz Park, there are a number of photos that have been loaded up onto the Pitchero website.