Sunday saw the second pre-season friendly at our old friends at Park House. Weather was pretty much perfect and we took a good squad of players, which gave us a chance to experiment with different formations and bodies butt just as importantly meant we were able to lend 4 boys to Park House as they were short of numbers.

We agreed to play 4 quarters to give everyone an opportunity on both sides. Our warm- up before the start was pretty poor – a real lack of focus and intensity – which gave us some concerns about how this was going to go. Of course we then scored straight from the kick off and by the end of the first quarter were 24-12 ahead. But we will need to be much better at this against stronger opposition. There were lots of changes on both sides over the next three quarters or so and it was a little difficult to keep up but we were always comfortably in front with the gap never dropping below 14 points and at the end stretched away as Park House tired giving us an overall 64-29 victory.
It was a tough game to take too much from, but a few thoughts.

Positives: We played some really sharp rugby at times—slick running, fast hands, and a handful of great individual skills. One try alone had two behind-the-back passes in the build-up. Our rucking and counter-rucking were strong and we turned over a lot of ball near our own line. Line-outs were solid too—almost all ours and a few of theirs, plus high balls were caught well.

Work-ons: Defence needs sorting—line speed was slow, and our tackling was hit and miss. We coughed up some soft tries and can’t get away with that against stronger teams. Focus and intensity were patchy—not just the warm up, but things like kick chases and switching off from a restart led to easy points for them. Decision-making can improve—missed overlaps were there, and we need to listen to leaders on the pitch.

Hard to draw big lessons since Park House were understrength and rusty, so we weren’t as tested as we will be. The pack looks a bit lighter which could be an issue, but there’s real pace and skill to work with. The first league game v Cranleigh next week should tell us more. For now, we’ve got a talented group but need to build teamwork and structures and not just rely on flashes of individual brilliance.