After a couple days of heavy rain we arrived at HQ aka Shrek’s swamp for our highly anticipated battle against Pulborough. There was a lot of pre-match chat that Pulborough didn’t want it as they had been moaning on the Friday, Saturday morning, when they arrived in the changing rooms, went out on the pitch, started warming up and then at the coin toss that they wanted the game to be postponed. Despite their best efforts, Chris kicked from left to right and then straight into the ref’s face (perhaps the quickest dick of the day to occur). In the first 10 minutes or so, we were guilty of giving away penalty, after the penalty, after penalty (mainly for high tackles). Finally we found ourselves in the opposition 22 and the gravy train (who else of course) crashed over. Pulborough came straight back with a try in the corner but this was quickly forgotten as Dave crossed the whitewash. Quickly after this Dave executed a lovely box kick over the top which was expertly picked up by Chris who dived for the corner.

Half Time: 17-5

After a quick team talk, we got on the scoreboard almost straight away with Paulo running in under the sticks. We wanted to keep the scoreboard ticking over, so Alex slotted a penalty just to be sure. The next try came from almost nothing as Jack Knight snatched the ball from a ruck and ran half the pitch to dot down. Jack then got his second with a fantastic turn of pace, to beat a couple of defenders and score in the corner. Messrs Wreatham and Ackroyd then applied the final nails in the coffin and that was that, yet another bonus point secured. This was likely to be the toughest conditions we will play in all season and yet we never let this affect us, showing true mental resilience in the face of adversity.

The evening entertainment was provided at the St Francis Christmas party. Much food, drink and quizzes were had. Thank you to Morrisey, Sam, Dave and Karine for organising everything, it was a fantastic evening.

We now look ahead to our final game of 2024 in the form of Littlehampton away, a huge game that could have a very big impact going into 2025!

Full Time: 44-5

Man of the Match: Jack Knight
Dick of the Day: Chris Goodayle