News
Men’s
Cranleigh 2nd’s vs Guildford 2nds
18/09/23
Men’s
I had a dream last night, that the long summer of rain and no rugby was over.
I dreamt it was Saturday morning and rugby was back.
It felt so real!
Somehow I found myself in the changing room,knowing we had the team of dreams. That’s how good! Mozza stood in the sunshine, head guard on and looking pumped, the selfless Ben Terson and Pete, oh Pete – the one man protector. It’s going to be alright……
Oh, it was with a young* (*This is false information regarding the FH & Wing) backline of returning Tom Carter, Sam (me!), Theo, Theo’s bro Issaac and his friend (I’m going to say Mike) not to mention James Fenti and the impressive Dave Sexton.
We kicked off and went straight at them. The warmup had been solid and we took it into the match, all the forwards wanting the ball. Jake andGraham were both willing ball carriers and BVP sporting an awesome black eye caused carnage. Back wannabe Big Tom again lived like a trusty side kick linking the forwards to the backs.
It was at an early breakdown from a charging forward that the ball came out to Marcus “Sam Lawrence” Smith (I write it – I get to call myself whatever I want) who darted over the line.
We went again and few moments later, Fenti found himself taking the ball at pace on the left wing to dart in for number two. My bro in law not to be outdone.
Let’s wrap up the first half with saying I cut the grass with one penalty shot. I didn’t have time to warm up, so I blame my son for his football match finishing late. NOT MY FAULT! Anyway…..
A few changes at half time saw Ben leave with a messed-up nose, Big Tom with a ripped bicep and BVP struggling with a hamstring. But who is to appear but the main man himself, Casty! The enforcer was here.
“Do not take your foot off the pedal!” and we didn’t.A chip over the top by me, saw no-one at home and as Dave Sexton chased onto the ball with a fantastic offload, Wadey scored a brilliant try in the corner.
Before the match, the returning birthday boy Gaz had asked to start on the bench (maybe a few early BD drinks last night?). On he came in the second half and off he went! Not for long though, as within 10 minutes he’d pulled a hamstring – but what a ten minutes! He made a great recovery drag of someone’s shirt to allow Mozza to get across and smash the guy into touch – one of many amazing tackles by Mozza.
We lost DOR Nic Churchill to a yellow card for a seat belt tackle. It must be said the guy still had it with a rampaging run into the centre of the pitch and an unreal Sonny Bill Williams offload to on-coming flyhalf. The following yellow was the best of all. An infringement around the ruck area and the ref wanted to know who it was, otherwise I would go as captain…..no one spoke exceptJake….. “IT WASN’T ME!” Ok, thanks Jake,anyone else before I get carded? I expected a 15 man chorus of “I AM SPARTACUS” but alas all I heard was silence and the birds tweeting. It was at this point Casty saw the opportunity to take a break for 10 mins, “It was me ref! Hands up.” Off he went with a smile, knowing full well it wasn’t him but he took one for the team – what a guy!
Are you ready for everything to fall apart? Not here! Mikey, who had move to scrum half, was pulling the strings and a great passage down the wing saw Isaac cross the line, converted at last.
A fantastic try-saving tackle by Tom Carter inspired everyone and finally the man who started the scoring (me again!) ended up getting the last try of the day.
A great team performance, forwards and backs. MOM from Guildford was Theo, who was brilliant at Centre and then Flanker, jumper in the lineout. He was everywhere. Mozza too was definitely inthe MOM mix.
I woke up from my sleep happy and proud, knowing it could only have been a dream.
But in the words of Gabriella, “Dreams can come true!”