Following a wet patch that would have concerned Noah, club officials (all over Sydney) were madly trying to convince council rangers to open the ovals and allow the multitude of young boys and girls with “cabin fever” to have a run around this weekend.

To that end we got the “green light” late on Friday afternoon and our round 9 clash was going ahead as scheduled at Melwood Oval, Killarney Heights. Our preparation was less than ideal with our one and only training session reduced to a fitness session due to the wet weather. In saying that though – the fitness session did us no harm and will only help us later in the season.

Coupled with this was an injury toll in some of the other teams (particularly the A’s) which meant we lost some players we would normally have. The A’s had only 8 players available this week and as such Alex Crotti and Eddie were sequestered to the A’s, with James Rennie and Harry also rushing off after our game to assist them. As such we had James Guy (C’s), Jack Sargeant (C’s), Nathan Dufficy (C’s) and Alex Robinson (U9’s) all join the Mighty B’s this week.

So all that being said we arrived to Melwood Oval and conditions were fairly harsh. A cold wind swept up through Middle Harbour which was rather bitter, whilst I was surprised that we were even playing after inspecting the pitch. A few small lakes dotted what was a very muddy field – I swear we even saw some frogs waterskiing up one end. Anyway after the wildlife moved on, it was time for some rugby.

The Mighty B’s were solid from the opening whistle, running hard and tackling well in the conditions. We dominated the first 3 minutes of play and looked to be going to crack the opposition at any moment, but some poor handling set us on the back foot and a Forest player swept on a loose ball to find himself with no-one in front of him and it was try time. He set down under the posts and it was 7-0 after only 4 minutes.

This setback was taken in our stride and we resumed our strong play. Alex Robinson found himself with a small gap down the flank in the 9th min and motored around the defence to get us on the scoreboard. A wonderful conversion from Harry had the scores locked up at 7-7. We continued the pressure and Alex R again found space in the 15th minute to cross again under the posts, but this time the kick went astray and it was 12-7.

We played out the 1st half without any addition to the scoreline, but continued to play well. The outside backs all were running strongly and our cover defence was as good as it has been. Whilst the forwards showed a lot of skill at the breakdowns and our scrum took a number of tight heads with huge pushes. I must commend the boys on their composure as well this week, despite getting hammered in the penalty count (I stopped counting at 8-1) they just turned around and set themselves for the next play.

The second half followed the script of the first for the most part. We held most of the play and continued to force turnovers via the forwards. After a period of pressure on the Forest line where we held them in their own in goal, we were forced into touch 1 meter out. The resulting lineout was won against the throw by James Guy at the front and there was no holding him back, try time although there was a momentary flutter in the coaches heartbeat on the put down. A hard kick was missed and it was 17-7 in the 9th min of the second half.

We crossed again in the 11th min as Alex R finished off some strong running from some others to cross under the posts, kick successful and it was 24-7. Max then sealed the deal with another try in the 16th min out wide and without the kick we lead 29-7. To Forests credit hey didn’t give up and spent the remainder of the match pressuring our defences. Despite some fantastic cover defence from one of our outside backs which cut down a 4 on 1 overlap, we finally cracked on the bell as Forest broke through under the sticks and made the final score 29-14.

It is always hard to mention all the good performances, and the boys all played well, but I do remember vividly some strong runs from Patty, Max, Jake and Dan. Alex R was a dynamo and would have been man of the match had he been eligible. Whilst off the bench there was none better than Big James whom seems to grow another leg when he goes on.

We took this week as an opportunity to experiment with a few positional changes – Andrew, Sam and Alex R all had time at 5/8, whilst Harry made the move to fullback, Nathan to ½ and Jake to hooker. Some of the positional changes worked well whilst others reinforced areas we need work on. This all should aid our depth to have our boy’s multi skilled as the season progresses.

Anyway we can all be satisfied with the performance and next week we are back to full strength (barring illness). Thanks to all the boys whom filled in - you are all welcome back if you are keen to once again represent the “Mighty B’s”. I will remember to attach the words to the team song for next time – another outstanding rendition echoed the hills of Forrestville last night.

Best and Fairest points this week went to Patty – 3, Sam – 2 and Jake – 1.

Final Score ; Hunters Hill 29 (Tries – Alex R x3, Max x1, James G x1, Conversions – Harry 2/5) bt Forest 14 (Tries x2, Conversions x2)

Yours in Rugby

Coach Ben