This game really did have it all. It was exciting, competitive, disciplined………all the stuff that makes rugby such an amazing game. Both sides played with enormous conviction and intensity but there was no lack of discipline or sportsmanship which can sometimes rear its ugly head under such pressured play.

With a couple of minutes to go and leading by 5 points I said to their coach “a draw would be a fair result here”. He agreed and as if they read my thoughts the Clevedon army crumbled under the pressure of seeing out the game, hell bent on trying to emulate their world cup heroes they compounded wrong decision after wrong decision, eventually gifting Southmead a generous overlap and nothing more than a canter to seal the draw, which in actual fact is nothing less than they deserved. I must admit my heart was in my mouth as their very capable kicker set up to steal the spoils. Luckily for us he just nudged it wide of the posts to end the day 22 points apiece and to be fair pretty happy faces all round.

You could possibly make a case that we were unlucky, we let in 4 tries – 2 interceptions, a drive over from a scrum that should never have been, and one fluffed kick in the dying seconds that went agonisingly straight to the opposition for a run in. But we need to understand none of this was bad luck and all was perfectly avoidable.

If you look before you pass it’s highly unlikely you’ll throw an interception (try telling George Ford that – ref: his stinker against Saints on Saturday) in fact the man coming for an interception offers a fantastic gap for a “show and go”. With the “Final Play” shout being branded about and half the team screaming “Kick It” it’s no wonder Luke instinctively tried to nudge it 40yds into touch. If you are one those that shouted out – shame on you. The ball carrier makes his own decisions, and if no one had shouted out I’ve no doubt Luke would have stuck to what he does best and the game would have played out just fine. Please let’s remember two other people tried and failed to hit touch leading up to that point.

One of the best moments of the day was actually very early on in the match. Mac broke away and rampaged down the right flank, passing 2 or 3 opponents before meeting their “mini Habana” (Southmeads very quick winger). Mackenzie has probably had bigger meals than the size of this guy!!! However he bravely got in the way and managed to knock Mac off balance bringing him down. It was a massive collision and the game stopped, but the little fella had a quick assessment then jumped to his feet and gave Mac a big smile followed by a “man Hug” !!!!!!! ……..priceless……that’s what rugby can produce, wonderful little moments like that.

There were some very good performances, possibly most notably from the two try scorers Willsy and McCauly. Tom exuded such finesse, speed and quality of decision making for his scores whilst McCaulys brute force and strength were his allies.

Above everything however, for me at least, the greatest and somewhat surprising improvement was ATTITUDE. In the recent past when we have conceded points in the last throws of a game to draw or lose we have turned on one another, pointed fingers at others and found fault with anyone but ourselves. We’ve questioned referees and behaved like spoilt little brats. Yesterday we finished the game with smiling faces! We had played a game of rugby and whilst the result maybe wasn’t quite what some of us were after we all acknowledged we’d had a good morning of physical exercise, we had all improved as players and most of all it was all really, really enjoyable.

Well done guys, more of the same please.

Jim has uploaded a video of some of the highlights which can be watched via You Tube. Please cut and paste the link below into your URL :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XQfm7wPsnA