On a cold and gloomy, but thankfully dry Saturday morning London Media met at Raynes Park to do battle on their least marsh like pitch. Preparations started well with our esteemed 10 George “Spartacus” Cullis (may need a rethink on the name now!!) getting a manicure prior to warm up from his inside centre Wayno, but the trim and polish seemed to do the trick because within 5 minutes of kick-off from a well works set piece by the forwards, George “insert girly name” Cullis had managed to jink his way through the Raynes Park defence to touch down between the uprights. Georges initial 5 points were quickly converted to 7 by Greeny (1 from 1). Media’s beauty pageant wannabes worked their magic again of a set piece towards the close of the first half with Wayno barging through after a clever line (one to die for) off a step from George “insert even girlier name” Cullis which was unfortunately not converted at all by Greeny who decided he needed a rest after his run up to the ball and instead of kicking it stopped, took a breather and pushed it forward all of 2 feet (1 from 2). Unfortunately Raynes Park were determined not to let us have it all our own way, as the middle of the first half was mired as they continued to kill the ball at ruck time and a frustrated Media pack began to get penalised heavily for coming in the side and holding on. These penalties allowed the Raynes Park kicker to test his boot and slot from various angles and distances 3 from 5 within the first half. This in itself was shaming enough of our budding kicker but the fact that he was a prop and a fatter prop than me served to ensure an extra measure of humiliation for Greeny. End of first half Raynes Park 9 LMRFC 12. Not to be completely outshone by his opposite number (A PROP) Greeny started the second half with aplomb as he finished off a lovely linking move between himself and Johnny Gepheart to swan dive over the line very Ashtoneque. Unfortunately, although he proved he could run better than the fat prop he failed to show up his kicking skills by pushing the conversion attempt wide once more (1 from 3). Raynes Park then started to show some backbone and make better use of the appalling conditions by keeping the play in their forwards and moving it progressively down the pitch through rolling mauls and well worked lineout’s (albeit through unstraight throws, and I know all about those!!) to finally maul their way over our line after a strong effort from the Media forwards to deny them. Their Prop then stepped up to the plate and gave Greeny another lesson in kicking to convert. Media’s forwards were not to be shown up however as they decided to show the Raynes Park pack how a mobile and skilled 8 are able to work down the pitch through clever interplay and strong lines resulting in a bursting run from Sam Cullis down the wing to offload to a waiting Jake to touch down between the posts. And just to finish off, Greeny managed to slot the 2 points, albeit via a drop kick as he was obviously too worried about getting too tired from an extended run up again!! Final Score Raynes Park 16 London Media 24 MOTM: Sam Cullis (went home) Gareth (went home) Andre (default award!!) DOTD: Greeny (of course!) Can those boys who left their gear in my boot please come and collect as it is starting to smell!!!
Posted on: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 16:03:45 +0000