After the 1st XV fixture was called off due to the weather conditions last weekend, the side remains unchanged from last week, as we felt we would keep the same line up.

We’re looking forward to the challenge of hosting Shelford at Hoe Lane this Saturday and looking forward to seeing a lot of you down there!

The second team game last weekend went ahead and there were a number of outstanding performances, with players putting pressure on the current incumbents in the 1st XV to keep producing the goods. The boys were playing Ealing on a 4G pitch and put in an excellent display of running rugby.

Josh Hewitt was the stand out performer in the front row. Scrummaging at tight head prop he dominated his opposite man and scored a try from 30 meters out. Jon Patten also scrummaged extremely well, assisted by James Lewis at hooker, who has been injured for a few weeks and after playing some games in the 3rd XV has stepped up in to the 2nd XV. We are working on his conditioning and he is working hard in training to improve. Bash Mohabir came on in the 2nd half and he again keeps on putting his hand up. Christy Basra also came on at hooker and is a work in progress, getting valuable experience at this level after coming out of our academy last season.

The 2nd row that started shows us how much strength in depth we have at the moment, with James Keens and Tim Mathews both having great games. It goes without saying that these two could easily slot into the 1st XV at any point. Watch this space...

In the back row, Josh Wood put in another man of the match performance at 7. He is one of our academy guys from last year and is taking to senior rugby like a duck to water. He is going to New Zealand in February to play rugby for a season. Stacey and Goodman made up the remainder of the starting back row and Goodman according to the Dave's has been consistently producing 7 out of 10 performances every week. Stacey continues to captain the side and is maturing into the role every week. He has made the transition from centre to back row and we’re pleased with how he is going.

At scrum half, Ben Creasey played well and his energy and enthusiasm along with Rory Seymour was evident to see. Both had excellent games and again it's great to see these guys fighting to play in the 1st XV.

The centre partnership saw familiar faces in Adam Roberts and Sam Walker. Adam can't train regularly but has stepped up to captain the 3rd xv and it is great to see old 1st XV players taking on these sort of roles at the club. Sam has been playing well and he knows what he needs to do to step up to the next level and I am sure if he continues to keep improving at the level he has he will get there.

The back three saw Glennon, Kirwin and Batty all performing well, with Glennon being the pick of the bunch before reverting to scrum half for the 2nd half. Jimmy Tatershall also came on and did well after being out injured for 6 weeks.

This week, like the 1st XV, the 2nd team are playing Shelford and we will see Lewis Stedman, Bertie Walters and Lewis Sillitto all returning to the squad and also Josh Rudling, who has been playing at university in Northumbria.

The 2nd xv are also top of their league in zoo division 2 and Dave Hynard is doing an excellent job aided by Dave Phillips. The players realise that it is a squad effort and most of the coaching is done as a group, with the 1st and 2nd xv doing the same plays and receiving the same level of coaching. As I have said before, it is a great environment to be involved with and all the coaches are pulling their weight with egos being taken out of the equation.

See you all Saturday and in the bar for a sing song!

Cheers Baz

1st XV to play Shelford

15. Sean Taylor
14. Michael Allan
13. Stuart Smart
12. Richard Streets
11. Jack Mitchell
10. Ben Lloyd
9. Michael Sargent
1. Harry Morgan
2. Chris Joyce
3. Geoff Hughes
4. Jack Elston
5. Chris Joannou
6. Dan Belton
7. Josh Corcoran (c)
8. Torran MacDougall

16. Louis Castiglione
17. Ollie Cain
18. Aaron Lowe