An old rivalry was renewed at Croxdale as Belsize Park travelled to the fortress to face the 2XV. Having won 15/15 games all season, a points difference of +493 and achieved 12 bonus points out of a possible 15, Belsize Park travelled to Croxdale as hot favourites in the cup semi final.

After both storm Ciara and Jorge had left their mark on the Croxdale pitch, a lashing of hail just before kick off was the last thing the game needed.

As the blue sky appeared overhead, OH attacked with the wind at their backs and firmly cemented their position in the Belsize half of the field. As Belsize kicked out of their own 22, two great counter attacking runs from Thiago Fachada got OH back on the front foot and came close to scoring. I lost count of the amount of scrums which took place due to the conditions but the front row of Baxter, Whittaker, Curry did a sterling job at providing a platform against a pack we have previously struggled against in the scrum.

An accurate measure of the OH first half performance was that Belsize didnt make the OH half of the field until after 30 minutes of play. The conditions didnt lend to free flowing attacking rugby but OH showed great steel in attack through ball retention and strong defence to win the ball back as Belsize faced a wind which prevented the use of a kicking game.

At fly half Bambi made excellent use of the wind to punch to touch a number of times with centres HWR (Struggling with an achilles injury) and Ben White constantly chopping Belsizes number 12 who trucked it up all day.

The referees whistle blew for half time with an unusual scoreline of 0-0 leaving a relieved Belsize and a disappointed Habs who should have capitalised more the territory and possession.

The second half started poorly for Habs with a quick fire penalty allowing Belsize to set up camp in Habs 22 then a blindside move giving them a try. With everyone subsequently warmed up and switched on after that wake up call, Habs went straight back into it with good carries from Henry Larkin and Joe Kayall giving us ground. Slowly Habs built momentum and Ollie Dell bounced a tackler on the 22 and got over under the sticks for a score. Habs 7-5 Belsize. Belsize responded with a penalty to make it 7-8 and this scoreline stayed under the last 5 minutes. The ball popped free out of a tackle with Belsize in possession to one of their players having a rest at blindside. He picked up and found himself free with Habs committed at the ruck and he got into out 22 and scored Belsize scored the next phase. A gutting, harsh blow for Habs who had fought valiantly all day and came so close - a minute to go - and conceded at the death.

OH first game against Belsize this season resulted in a 72 point beating which is an accurate measure of how far the 2XV has come over the course of the season. This isnt much consolation for losing a semi final but OH will pick themselves up and go again with 2 games remaining in the league to secure a play off spot. Come on OH!

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