What can you do. You've got to take the rough with the smooth I suppose but Saturday, in sporting terms, was a bit rubbish.
Waterloo V Bedford
Bedford shape up like a team who belong in this division (and hope to go one better). Waterloo, at the moment, don't. It sounds odd but a pretty even game save Bedford run out 42 - 13 victors. Up until 60 minutes Waterloo had held there own but at present they are the antithesis of the word 'clinical'. After conceding an early penalty they pushed Bedford onto the back foot on several occasions but didn't make anything out of it. A couple of times in the first half points went begging. A try (where the ball was across the line & only need to be grounded but wasn't), possibly another (knock-on) and a penalty that we declined to take (because by that stage we needed to points). I know this is all "What if..." but with a bit more experience and nouse it could have been a different game. Instead Varndell scorched through for the opening try and Bedford started to exert their obvious class.
In truth you can look at the game and say the result was never in doubt, at the start of the second half 'loo pushed and pressed and the score stood at 22-13 but after 60 minutes Bedford started to punish us in a blistering spell where 3 tries were scored in rapid succession. After that there was only one winner much to the delight of their fairly sizable travelling support (complete with air-horns no less). Teams like Bedford are teaching us lessons about life in this division. We do have the players and fitness & stamina will come as the game-time mounts up (Amateurs playing against professionals will always find it tough) but by playing against quality opposition will expose our naivete and hopefully before too long we'll be able to take the chances when offered. The bad news was that Tom Varndell looked to twist his knee and was helped from the field looking very, very gingerly. Hope he's okay. It was the same for us too...van DeVenter went off with a foot injury. Hope thing are okay there 'cause we really don't need more injuries. Muchie, Loader and McKay all looked impressive for Waterloo. Another game further up the learning curve I hope.
Beds on Sunday - Match ReportEcho Match ReportEngland V Macedonia
From there we nipped into the clubhouse to watch the England game, by now we were drowning our sorrows whilst still celebrating my birthday (The half pint of port was a bit too much for me) so perceptions may have been skewed. England looked woeful from the off...Whereas 'loo had took a tanning but had lots to be positive about it was difficult to come up anything truly positive about the game. Macedonia actually looked the better side overall. The cliche about playing like a team of strangers could have been invented to describe our midfield and forward.
Scotland stole all the plaudits with a
well earned win against France. They now sit on top of the group of death. Congrats to Walter Smith, Davie Weir and James McFadden.
Anyway that was my day...Thanks to Anne, our Ste & Claire, Katherine & Sara, Jack & Penny, Tina, Anne & Mark, Mike & Mary, Paul & Rachel, Jenny & Mike, Louise, Mark, Bernadette, Caroline and her little dog. The sport was grim but the beer was good.
