Ampthill 35 CS Rugby 1863 23

Ampthill forwards coach, Simon Emms formerly of Llanelli Scarlets, London Wesh, Bath, Bristol, Gloucester, Orrell, Northampton for perhaps longest, and Wasps must lick his lips when the Civil Service, or at least their rugby playing successors in title, come calling. It was in 2008 that a Special Commissioner at a Tax Tribunal had rejected his claim for tax relief totalling £13,000 in respect of additional food and nutritional supplements that he had needed over just three seasons to maintain the "required level of physical fitness for employment as a professional rugby union prop forward." He is clearly not just a two gallons of beer and a pie and mushy peas man.

Bad luck for him and the PRA - Damien Hopley provided a witness statement in support - then and, even if, as he is now retired, he was not playing himself on Saturday he could still always rely on the expertise at the front row coal face of hooker and brother and rugby agent Richard Emms ( Cross Keys, Swansea, Rotherham Titans, Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Narbeth but not necessarily in that order) and tight-head Ross Davies (Newbridge, Galwegians, Connaught, Neath, Sale Sharks, Worcester Warriors and Ospreys) to give anyone associated with the Revenue an early Christmas card!

CS Rugby 1863, with not a tax or even customs man in sight, were working to a rather different script and - for the first fifteen minutes at least - produced arguably the best rugby of their season to date - playing a controlled game close to the pack and always probing for an opening. So good was their ball retention that there was barely a scrum in this period. Ampthill's defence was up to the task, however, and all the Stags had to show for their early efforts was a solitary Scott Hadden penalty goal. A drop goal attempt by the same player from in front of the posts had gone wide.

Ampthill's resolute defence eventually forced handling errors and with that their scrummage at last started to come into play. The second quarter saw them very much on top and it was ironic - given what had gone before - that the first time our hosts ever even got a sniff of our line, having established their position as a result of a scrummage offence, they should score and make the CS defence look somewhat flimsy in the process. And then to add insult to injury, there was a second rather similar breach only minutes later. Ampthill were turning the screw and - although the CS set scrummage never capitulated - it was looking decidedly uncomfortable. Two further penalties saw Ampthill with a somewhat flattering 18-3 lead at the break.

But the Stags are not noted for lying down and they came out of the blocks in the second half much as they had started the first and the well connected Ampthill pack looked decidedly short of nutritional supplements when it was driven back fully forty metres on one occasion by what one could only liken to a tsunami and the away support - including Steve Crosthwaite who likes a forward tussle ( One of his memorable lines I recollect when one man down in the pack was "You're not xxxking pushing us Clapton!") was still in good heart and certainly voice.

That drive set up the field position for a try scored by hooker Darryl Gore in the aftermath of a lineout drive - and the CS line-out was indeed in fine form throughout the game - converted. No sooner was CS back in the game, however, than - just as in the first half - a soft score was conceded, this time straight from the kick off with a dropped loose ball being gathered by the flanker ( ex Northampton Saints!) who then found very little in front of him. Unfortunately such looseness was later to be repeated. A Scott Hadden penalty on 55 minutes was at least a measure of which side was playing the better rugby at this point with the score now 23-13.

But Ampthill were good at soaking up the pressure and although the half time introduction by CS of Craig Bellringer at prop had shored up the set scrum , it was - probably crucially - Ampthill who were next to score, on 68 minutes after their industrious right winger had made the extra man by turning up on the left .

This time it was CS who struck back almost immediately after another series of pick and gos eventually saw replacement second row, Chris Endersby, on the front foot and taking Ampthill defenders with him. Converted, that brought the score back to 28-20 with now just nine minutes to go.

CS were bravely throwing the kitchen sink at it but Ampthill just had to keep tackling and dishing out a bit of pain at scrummage time and so it was that all CS could in the end do was reduce the arrears on 78 minutes by a Scott Hadden 40 metre penalty goal : 28-23 and - so it appeared at that point then - the consolation at least for CS of a losing bonus point.

But this ignored the fact that pride and ambition were still both equally manifest and - instead of letting the kick-off, not gathered cleanly, bounce harmlessly into touch - these deadly sins combined and an almighty hash was made trying to regather it : Ampthill gratefully accepted the gift horse and cantered in for a 7 pointer. Final score - justly rewarding the dominant scum and in truth CS was always playing catch-up - 35-23!

Coach Stefan Smith was unfazed and upbeat: " "Uncharacteristic errors in the second half proved the difference : we will learn from this. We have a fantastic team and a strong group of players that want to be better every Saturday; however, today we were beaten by a team that took their chances well. Ampthill's defence in the midfield was immense today. We couldn't breach it: we definitely will next time!" So game on then!

CS scorers:

Tries : Gore
Endersby

Cons : Hadden (2)
Pens : Hadden (3)