Old Blues vs Battersea Ironsides

The Old Blues kept their cup campaign alive in a thrilling game (for us) that saw the Blues nick a result right at the death. The game started off with the Blues defence being put under some serious pressure by a well organised BI outfit and some missed tackles cost the Blues dearly when the Ironsides broke through to the middle to take the first score. The Blues clearly had some tough work ahead but the defence held and a dropped ball on the Battersea line meant that the Blues went into half time trailing 7-0. The second half saw BI sprint out of the blocks and run in an early try to extend their lead to 14-0. A number of changes resulting from injuries in the third quarter seemed to unbalance the Blues and it looked like it might be another one of those days at DS park. However things settled down and the Blues started to rally and increase the pressure up front. This paid off when Hoggy burst through the centre for a beauty of a try through the back line with about 15 minutes left on the clock. The Blues had some wind in their sails by now and continued to crank up the pressure when TC managed to bundle over the BI line. The try was converted to leave things all square with about 10 minutes to go. The Ironsides then mounted their own counter attack and seemed to have sealed things with a well taken penalty with less than 5 minutes remaining however the Blues weren’t done and mounted an all out assault on the BI line. The last play of the game saw Kobby punch through the BI defence to touch down and win the game for the Blues. The final score was 19-17 and the Blues trooped off DS park suitably elated given the manner of the win. Defensive lapses aside, the Blues showed some true grit which was personified by another HdM winning performance from the indefatigable Simon Bourke at no.8.