This was a fixture our lads knew would be a hard fought contest, having lost to Ruislip in an ill-tempered game last season. We brought physicality from the first whistle and were dominant in the early stages, scoring three tries in the first half to Ruislip’s two. Both of their tries came from switching off at the key moment, allowing them to gain ground with numbers down the blind side. At half time the score was 21-10 in our favour.

In the second half Ruislip had the wind behind them and it was a more even though scrappy contest. Ruislip scored two tries to lead 22-21 before we hit back with two more ourselves. With ten minutes left we were up 33-22. Unfortunately in these last ten minutes we let the momentum slip away from us and in the last action of the half Ruislip stunned us with a final converted try to win the game 36-33.

Ultimately it was our defensive teamwork and our collective game management that let us down. As a coach it was good to see many of the things we’ve been training going well: good line out options, good work around the ruck and high intensity throughout. This was a hard loss to take but every boy played his part in the game; as we said to the boys after the final whistle, they now need to use the hurt of this loss to make them tougher for the remainder of our season. Keep training intensity high and focus on the teamwork in defence.