Although a very disappointing result against Whitchurch last Saturday (Cathays lost by 24pts to 18pts) it was good to see a lot of ex-players on the touch line wrapped up to the nines against the arctic conditions and cheering on the Cathay's boys..

Among the huge crowd jostling to view the action I spotted Clive Aubrey, Bob Garwood, Ian Lewis, Gerry Latham (who won first prize for the most colourful hat combination-this is usually awarded to Gareth Stone) Phil Saunders (yes-Phil Saunders!) Steve and Jean Bool (minus the pug) Barney (will be ever become a Vice President?) Nigel, Jock (will he ever stay to the end of the game?) Darren (the most recent Vice President but don't tell his wife) Bob Fisher, Tank, Mat and Dan and the usual suspects that help to put the team on the field week every week.

The opinion on the display by the Cathay's team from the 'Old Gits' huddled together, stamping their feet and drinking copious amounts of hot chocolate, was that Whitchurch defended particularly well against our fairly unimaginative attacks. The constant use of the inside ball and crash ball was easy to defend against particularly when used over and over again.

Put the ball wide!

And why o why don't we kick the ball to the left hand corner flag when we are playing down the slope? Has some mysterious workman leveled out this section of the pitch rendering this obvious advantage void?

But what do ex-rugby players know about the modern game, eh? Is it still 4 points for a try?

That said there was a lot of commitment and hard graft on display from the Cathay's players and although the result can be viewed as a bad day at the office players and supporters know that we can (and will) play better in the future.

And finally, the hot debated topic of Aki playing at wing forward produced numerous comments during and after the game which, unfortunately, I cannot repeat here. The language used is certainly not found in the bible.

But the burning question must be asked! Will Aki revert to his customary position of full back or will we see this mercurial player run out as tight head prop and wearing a scrum cap emblazoned with the colours of the Greek national flag against Rhiwbina? Or will we see him leaping like a Salmon in the line outs with number 4 on his jersey? Watch this space and all will be revealed.