Well, first game as captain and it started the day off well. NOT.

Late Friday night Adam Lancaster pulled out with an injury and first thing on Saturday morning Studd pulled out with a pulled muscle in his behind... how this happened is still a mystery. However. the meet time at the club was set for 1:30 and we were now down to a bare 15, with the late inclusion of hockey playing Robin Melville.

By 2:00 we were still 6 short. To make things worse from reports it would appear that one or two players contact details had changed and did not receive the text confirming their inclusion in the team. At the end though, at kick off time we were 18 strong, with the late inclusion of Martin Radford, Tonks turning up and Clive having his kit delivered, by his kind wife Sue - Thanks Sue.

The opposition: Well what can we say, when you are sitting in the changing room and you watch the procession past, of players who resemble our own second team, in age that is, one tends to wonder, am I getting too old for this? Drifters arrived with a team whose average age, I am sure, could be no more than 21 or 22 and ours is, well, you know, we are seasoned.

We won the toss and chose to play up the hill on pitch 3, the intention was that we could utilise the downhill run in the second half...right. With our very experienced backline it was clear that we were going to have our work cut out for us with the opposition making their intentions clear, they intended to throw the ball around out back and we were 2 tries down within a very short period of time. But spirits were not dampened that much, as we were clearly in the ascendance up front.

With Andy and newly joined John Hally and Paul Smith in the front row and stalwart MTC together with Andy Croy in the second row, we did not lack any power or go forward. However, Drifters continued to spread the ball wide with good effect.

From recollection we went into half time 22 - 0 down. Time to rally the troops. My task was made a lot easier by the clear positive attitude of everyone, agreeing that we were doing more right than we were doing wrong. Strong mention to the fact that we needed to make tackles and make them stick. A lot easier said than done when you are running after someone who is half your age.

Start of the second half and with myself coming on at loose head, we had the U10's coaching front row. Neville kindly stood down and Tonks came into scrumhalf, Robin came in on the wing and Radders slotted into fly half. The backline was set for battle, with the big boys securing the ball up front we had the platform set for some payback and for a time it looked like we may make some with some every well worked back line moves orchestrated by Radders.

A new one for me was Radders saying to me at kick off, "are you ready for the ball" and me thinking Ok he going to put it nice and central. However it was clear he was directing it to me. Now for some this may be difficult to believe but I ran a few meters - OK stop the laughing at the back , but low and behold the ball landed in my hands and off we went. Even more surprising this happened more than once. Thanks Radders made my day.

MTC also on regular occasions during the match made his presence and considerable size and bulk felt with some good rumbling runs gaining precious ground. Darren Harding, Clive Field and Hummers played good penetrating rugby and did not make it easy for the opposition to get the ball away, as always thanks guys.

The last five minutes of the game I think suggests that if we had kept the ball up front, the score may have been different. We camped out well within the oppositions 25 and only just fell short of firstly Hummers then myself and then Radders, of crossing the line.

Alas youth and exuberance had a lot more to offer than our age and experience and Drifters scored few more tries running uphill in the second half and the match ended 57 - 0 in Drifters favour.

Not the greatest start to the season but I reiterate again most comments on Saturday that we were doing more right than wrong. There were a few names banded around for man of the match, Robin Melville for his impact and cover on the wing, Clive and Hummers in the back row and Tonks at fly half then scrumhalf, but we eventually settled on first man of the mach for this season Matt the Colt. Well done MTC and lets hope this is the start of a enjoyable season for us all.

Oh and for those of you in the know Andy Dalrymple 1 - Graeme Hailes 0. Going to be a good contest this year.

This coming weekend weekend sees us take on "Broadmore 2's. We played and beat them last year (well at least some of their 2nd team) and we look forward to having a good tussle again this year. So if you are up for a game, please make yourself available as it is sure to be a good one.

See you Saturday!

Graeme Hailes
Captain Bracknell RFC IV