As the season comes to a close, the Wanderers hosted Old Caterhamians 2XV (Cats).

With a just 14 man Cats side, Whits graciously (and optimistically) agreed to match numbers.

Cats started quickly with a penalty to open an early lead. Then followed a fifteen minute blind arm wrestle with both teams battling for supremacy but unable to land a pass.

Fullback and raw fish connoisseur Nick Byrne was quickly put to work tidying up a series of long testing kicks. Like a salmon swimming upstream, Nick continued to make up yards slipping by defenders, supported by the returning Rob King. After months on the sidelines, King’s speed even surprised the Whits attacking line, making the ensuing knock-on an inevitability.

As ever, the Wanderers had no qualms enlisting some old legs. Chairman Dave Moyise lined up in the front row again, making good use of all the pints he sunk during the week. At the other end of the pack, the age defying figure of Mike Grant cast an imposing figure on the 18 year old opposition 9… a mere 30 years of experience separating the two.

At 19 minutes Cats made a break away down the left wing. A valiant attempt from our young French scrum half to share his patriotic love for the guillotine was unfortunately not looked upon favourably by the jingoistic ref, who awarded a penalty try and a yellow card. #AllTacklesWelcome
0 -10 to Cats.

A series of testing carries from Jonny Burnett, Rob King and acting captain Sam ‘We’ll match their numbers’ Barriball were absorbed by Cats, who subsequently countered and scored.
0-17 Cats.

The remainder of the first half consisted of various scrums, penalties and maybe another lucky try from Cats. Much more memorable was fullback Nick Byrne’s masterclass from the boot, finding touch from all angles and even landing one straight into the hands of spectator Chris Shiels on the clubhouse roof (many would argue his only catch all season).

After the break Cats once again supped from their fountain of youth and rallied with another two quick tries, advancing the score to 0 - 36.

Now confident they had given Cats a fair advantage, the Wanderers decided show their true colours and capitalised on a quick ‘Tap-and-Go' to create space in the corner for Aaron Da Costa to cross the Cats line. Special thanks to Aaron’s better half for letting him out to play in his new fetching scrum cap (negative points for not letting him stay for beers… #Saturdayisfortheboys)

Following a remarkable kick from Byrne, Whits started their comeback with a strong 7 points.

Clearly buoyed over by Whits rallying try, Cats went on the offensive (more precisely Cats no.12) scoring a brace of tries taking Cats lead to .. a lot.

Always courageous, at 77 minutes a Whits line-out led to yet another slippery 30 yard run by Byrne, linking up with ageless Mike G and debutant Mo, who powered towards the Cats posts. Unsure of the rules of rugby, Mo was cruelly deceived by the allure of the 5 yard line (counts in our book); fortunately, Aaron was on hand yet again to finish a well made team try, taking Whits to a very respectable 12 points.

As I fetched another pint, Cats might have scored twice more (who knows) before the final whistle.
The Wanderers left the pitch with heads held high, confident they had taught a few lessons to the young Cats (maybe).