The boys’ first away trip of the season started in style, with an excellent 41–28 win that firmly put us on the map with the Northern sides.
OC’s started well for once, resisting the usual tradition of gifting the opposition a three-try head start before deciding to play rugby. Instead, our Brazilian wonderkid Joao strolled in untouched from the 22 after a couple of well-worked phases. All drawn up by Head Coach Alan Bateson in the week leading up to the game, of course, the man knows what he’s doing…
Naturally, we couldn’t maintain this level of professionalism for too long. After a Southend try, an FHO restart error (completely out of character, obviously) and a couple of penalties, we found ourselves floating in open water. Thankfully, another Brazilian intervention from Maiki gave us some breathing room before Joao trudged over from the back of another beautifully worked maul. Samba rugby at its finest.
From there, we continued to be absolutely mustard, and life was good. FHO’s lungs disagreed following his heroic 90-metre line break. Admittedly, it was closer to 20 metres, but the finer details have never been his strong point.
Injury club also welcomed two new members, Victor had everyone convinced he’d broken his leg after producing a scream that could be heard back in South London. Turns out it was just a sprained ankle, drama merchant. Chris Harris then joined him on the treatment table after getting sniped during a conversion.
The game finished 41–28, with a slightly soft try conceded at the death to hand Southend a bonus point. This was followed by the usual incessant bickering, which is just a sign of how high our standards are, despite having just put 40 points on a Level 5 side: something we haven’t managed since Dele was a young lamb back in the 1800s.
But the true highlight of the day came off the pitch. Ask Chris Harris about his designer jumper. An outrageous effort.
We are mustard. We belong here. And in the wise words of Matthew Wilder, “Ain’t nobody gonna break our stride.”
Up the OCs
Freddie Holland-OIiver
