Old Blues vs Merton

The Old Blues were back at Motspur Park for their last home league game of the season and had the chance to close out the league title against Merton. With a big crowd down for the club AGM and reunion day, the scene was set for another great day at the club, as long as the Old Blues stayed focussed on the job at hand. Thankfully, the Blues were in no mood to fall at the final hurdle and started brightly, running in a couple of quick tries and playing with a focus and structure that showed all the hard work at training really does pay off. The Blues were enjoying a very good day at the set piece with the scrum and the lineout operating very well and our backs were enjoying some good space on a firm pitch. The first half ended with the score line reading 34-0 to the Old Blues – I think… The second half started with the Blues keen to open up and things were looking good when we went over for another try in the corner early in the third quarter. However, the weather took a bizarre turn as the skies darkened and all of a sudden we were playing in a hail storm?! This inevitably led to a few dropped balls but the Blues kept going as best they could and ran in two more tries. Fair play to Merton though who kept going right until the death and went over the Blues line to touch down with the final play of the game. The full time whistle went with the score reading 51-5 to the Old Blues. It was a great performance by a squad who are obviously enjoying their rugby at the moment. DearO very kindly awarded the HdM tankard to me, but I think that was just an excuse to get me doused in fizzy alcohol – this was definitely a squad performance. So the Old Blues floated off the pitch having secured their first league title in nearly 20 years. Cue celebrations worthy of the Boys in Green in Cardiff….. Well done to everybody involved – this was a long time coming and richly deserved. SteveO