Old Blues (13) vs. OGRFC (37)

Having been promoted from Surrey 2 last year, Old Georgians travelled to Old Blues to renew their rivalry with Old Blues winning a tight encounter on the last visit. Both teams came into the game having lost twice so a tight, balanced game was expected. With OGRFC ravaged by injuries it was pleasing to welcome back a couple of the founding members of the club for their league debuts in Neil Sweeney and Ciaran Pillay to play in a side that boasted 7 front row forwards in the starting pack.

The game started cagey with both sides trading penalties before Jack Cooney slotted his second penalty of the day to put OGRFC in front, 6-3. Thankfully the first try of the day fell OGRFC's way and came via one of the aforementioned old guard in Neil Sweeney. OGRFC had a number of scrum penalties on the Old Blues 5 meter line and after rumbling the ball inches from the line, Sweeney picked from the base of a breakdown and finished off the score under the posts with a roll before Cooney added the extras to go 13-3 up.

Old Blues replied with a try of their own before half time but OGRFC didn't need to panic, they were playing good rugby and were truly dominant in the scrum. Unfortunately OGRFC started the second half flat and Old Blues levelled the game 10 minutes into the second half, 13-13.

OGRFC used this to build a response and started to build some momentum before re taking the lead through one of the most satisfying scores of the day. With an Old Blues scrum inside their own 22, OGRFC turned the scrum over and Will Percival picked at the base of the scrum before bashing his way to the line and touch down in the corner, 13-18.

OGRFC then effectively killed the game moments later when Mike Tierney made a wonderful break, and the big showing great feet as he marauded close to the try line. He got caught shortly before the try line and thankfully Ciaran Pillay was on hand to finish the try off under the posts to cap a wonderful return for both returning old guards. 13-25.

With 20 minutes to play, OGRFC had their sights set on a bonus point score and came from a usual source in Jack Chard. It was set up thanks to a great break from Nick Bennett showing a great turn of pace from the prop forward. Like Tierney, he was caught just before the line but thankfully had lots of support to secure the ball and Chard was the there to touch down in the corner. 13-30.

With the game petering out and conditions getting dark, Leed's Uni 1st XV hooker, Jonny Alberto put the icing on the cake. Alberto led a kick chase and hounded down the Old Blues 15 and managed to charge down his attempted clearance. Luckily the ball rebounded nicely and Alberto was able to gather and score in the corner before Cooney slotted the conversion. This proved to be the final play of the game and capped a wonderful performance, with a special mention going to the forwards who dominated for the full 80 minutes.

The victory saw OGRFC go second in the league and it was wonderful to see so many supporters coming to cheer on the boys.