Sunny skies and no rain, an excellent opportunity to trash SURFC at their own game (we are a drinking team after all) before the Wide Lane monsoon season takes hold. Off the back of an incredible previous season it was time for the Moose to do it all again. And they did so from the first whistle. A typical first hit from Connor got the team hungry to make an impact and the opposition scared to confront the magnificent Moosemen.
Soon well paced and strong forward play in the 22 wore down SUHRFC's defence, leaving gaps outside that were easily exploited by the Moose back line for a try by Duncan Steed in the first 20 minutes. Swiftly converted the score become 7-0.
The Moose's reputation for an iron defence was upheld proudly throughout the game, each man as strong as the next, the opposition failed repeatedly to make any substantial ground. Any mistakes were punished fiercely by the Moose, some excellent breaks on the wing from Branch (who only 24 hours earlier was experiencing anaphylactic shock) and the Forearm himself Thibaut Marcato put the Moose in some dangerously exciting positions.
A second try came from a play made to look all too easy by those muscular Moose forwards. In a flurry of speed and power those 8 Moosemen drove a maul off a line out, over the opposition try line, leaving Tom Wand with the fairly easy task of putting the ball on the ground. 14-0 By half time.
3 More tries ensued in the second half (Steed, O'Leary amd Hald) and 3 yellow cards, an all time Moose record. Yet even when down to 14 men the impressive resolution to hold back the Uni prevented a single point being put on the Moose.
With a penalty kick the final score came to 34-0. Surely this forebodes unbelievable scenes to come this season, the Moose are certainly a team to watch.
MoM: Tom Branch for playing an excellent 80 minutes despite his altercation with a bumblebee only hours before, perhaps he was still benefitting from a healthy dose of adrenaline.
Dr Farthing
ILTM, WAFSURFC