We knew this would be a ding-dong encounter and this lived up to the mark in every sense. Frannies got the first try on the board with Lewis cutting a lovely line, popping the ball to Chris on the loop who fed Alex to beat two defenders and dot down in the corner. A fired up Littehampton were looking to really stamp their mark on the game after this and Ian-spired counter attack saw them score under the posts. However with that being said, you could see points where LA (as they were known on the sidelines) were starting to lose their heads, especially their Fly-Ian-Half who dropped the ball on a number of occasions and got Ian-nnihilated by the Gravy Train a handful of times. You have to be Ian-it to win it and Littlehampton had a nice move that was well finished in the corner by their winger. St Francis were not down and out, just before the half time mark, Chris floated a lovely ball out the back to Alex who drew the defender to pop to Sam who showed Ian-credible strength to score.

So why did Ian take up martial arts?
So he could master Ian-tense moves!

The above joke is true, however his move was countered by Al who took offence to Sam fore-armed on the floor by young Ian. This resulted in a straight red, bugger down to 14 for the second half.

Half Time: 12-12

After the break, Littlehampton straight back Ian the thick of it with a try but Frannies struck straight 5 minutes later with Chris crossing the whitewash. A couple minutes later LA showed some Ian-thusiasm to get a try and it was turning into an Ian-creible contest between two Ian-venly matched sides. The real turning point was when Crawley was red carded but there was a sense of Ian-justice with this as the LA number 9 had squeezed Ryan’s crown jewels and made a mountain out of a mole hill rolling around like a Spanish footballer. Littlehampton scored two quick tries after this both from overlaps (nothing Frannies could do about this) but we showed some Ian-belieable resilience to claw a try back and seal the losing bonus point. Chris broke through on the left put a grubber kick through (and then tackled off the ball) for Sheikh Buckley to gather and score in the corner. He can score in a sun drenched Qatar but can he score in the arse end of Littlehampton? Yes he bloody can! A big thank you to yourself and Rad for playing and supporting respectively, huge commitment and it was a pleasure playing with you again.

A couple tries after this by Littlehampton put the Ian amongst the pigeons but overall St Francis can be super proud for fighting till the end with 13 men. Sure there are aspects to work on but being unbeaten since the beginning of the year is some feat. Also despite the result, we are still top of the table #BeAtStFrancis.

Till 2025, Ian out!

Full Time: 47-26

Not sure who man of the match or dick of the day was but all I know is Sparks and Josh Rolfe did the points (in Josh’s case is still doing the pint right now).