Both local sides wanted to get this game going ahead as the rematch would have been on the 6 Nations fixture between England & Wales, so the conditions were no match for the desire to be in the pub on March 7th.

The side, Forwards; Knighty, B.Goddard & Fyles the front row, Skip Banks & Speaking at locks with Jasper, Mooro & Smithy the back row.
Backs; Goddard & Fozzy half backs with Jash & JH in the Centres completed by a back 3 of Stock, Rose & Wilde.
Replacements; Irish Sean, Scotty not so hotty & Staggy.

Exiles got the game underway and started the more abrupt, round the corner running and putting Ts on the back foot, but early pressure relived by Fozzy’s boot, a common theme throughout the match. Ts early handling errors gave Exiles the opportunity to scrum and use their forwards to their advantage, the penalty came Exiles way but the opportunity missed to go in front.

Again, Exiles peppering the Ts defence but this week Ts were pumped for the game at hand and managed to keep the waves of attack at bay. After a great break from Stock to take us into the oppo half, Ts the managed to win the penalty and opted for the corner, over the next 5 minutes Ts secured a number of penalties (In the Exiles 22, which wasn’t penalised further by the ref) and opted for the boot of Fozzy and backed our line out, however conditions being what they were not many of those lineouts went to plan. Exiles holding Ts at bay meant they had the opportunity to clear their lines as well, it was a tit for tat kind of game at this stage.

A rolling maul from a lineout on the 22 gets held up over the line, but Ts on the front foot, with about 10 left on the clock for the half Ts again awarded another penalty but this time the ref does go to his pocket for the yellow. Finally after a number more penalties in the oppo 22 the Posts were opted for to take the lead 3-0 from Fozzy’s boot.

At this point Ben made way for Sean, from the Exiles lineout Ts win back the ball and hands from Mooro to Rosey see him bring it to the 40 and offload to Stock who continues up to the oppo 40, Jash & Wiled then link on the other side of the field and Wilde is up to the 5 with the last man to beat, all that was needed was an offload to Jash and he was in but Ts got the lineout on the 5m, and lost it. Exiles clear and that’s the end of the half.

The 2nd half was much of the same from the outset. Exiles probably coming out the blocks quicker and applying pressure for the opening 5 minutes, but again the Ts of old D was there to keep them at bay. Accompanied with the great kicking from Goddard & Fozzy Ts were able to use the wind advantage in the 2nd half to gain back any territory.

Ts then began to take a little more control, with penalties coming their way the majority of the 2nd half was played in the Exiles end of the field. However, like Ts Exiles proved they were not giving up without a fight, their strong forward runners & scrum always applied pressure on Ts ball and they did not give up territory easily.

Finally, with about 8 minutes on the clock, Jash finds JH out the back of a forward runner who then throws the miss pass to Rosey who managed to beat a couple of defenders and get the score, this took the points to 10-0 after Fozzy added the extras. However, after the score, any insult imaginable was thrown at Jasper who was then red carded, which made the final 8 minutes interesting, their player involved also received a yellow.

Ts were forced to defend a lot of the final few minutes, Exiles taking advantage of their heavier forwards in the conditions tightening up the game and knocking on Ts door for a chance to get over the whitewash. But Ts took it until 2 minutes to go before they turned the ball over and made their way down the park.

With a lineout on the 5, then awarded a penalty Ts took the right decision for posts, where Fozzy made it 13-0 and the end of the game.
Both sides left everything on the field and although in the midst of storm Dennis, Ts came and conquered.

MOTM: Fozzy – off the boot all game
DOTD: Need you ask, Jasper got a red.

The report for Chobham will come out soon but as you can imagine im very busy with the 6 Nations on.

Thanks for the read.
JH