The visit of Old Emanuel RFC to Croham Road on the final Saturday of January can be summed up by the old cliche "a game of two halves".

Before kick off, I put my keen powers of observation to good use by counting the massing Emmanuel players, support staff, and even videographers descending on the humble Whits second pitch. I lost count. 

To quote OEs manager, they were “Lucky to have a deep bench", running to 12 substitutes including 6 props who had made best use of the Christmas break.

Undeterred by size, Whits received the ball and played down hill to start. Catching Whits still waking up from an 8 week hiatus, OEs quickly surged and scored a try after only 3 minutes, making the early score of 0 - 7. Now fully awake and alert, Whits responded with a quick try from AJ before the 10 minute mark, pulling the score back to 5 - 7. There followed a 10 minute spell of both sides testing the opposing defensive capabilities while throwing some unforced errors for good measure.

OW had selected a broad age-range of players, and in the first 15 minutes, there were notable contributions from both the veterans, Ali “Grandad” Drage and Mike “Age is just a number” Grant. Drage making yardage by fending off various tackles, and Mike showing off his perfected crocodile roll at rucks.

Such is the OW philosophy of sharing, it must be noted that Chris Shiels (injured) still brought his boots and was reliable with a literal bucket of makeshift water bottles. At around 25 minutes, OW took the lead, with notable contributions from Chairman Moyise (going from prop to full back today) and Euan “I’d pass to myself if I could” at 10. The move began with a kicked clearance from OEs that was caught by Moyise who was quick lap up the ground in front of him. An infringement by OEs gave a penalty to OWs, which was kicked by Euan into touch, and a ruck ensued from the line-out, on the right hand side. Again Moysie took charge from the back of the ruck as he made space for Euan to score a well-worked try, making the score 10 - 7. The conversion was missed, and within three minutes of the restart, there was a fumble in the OEs defence, which a delighted Euan chased down for another try under the posts. An easy conversion tool the score to 17 - 7 at the 30 minute mark. 

From the restart, an almost complete fresh set of forwards provided OEs with front-foot ball and attacking rugby. After a succession of penalties and elected scrums to make use of fresh legs, OEs crossed the whitewash and converted to make the score 17 - 14.

From the restart, there was a clever combination between Euan, Gunni and scrum half Mathieu Strub (Whits youngest player of the day) which led to Gunni scoring a well worked try, extending Whits lead to 22 - 14.

Ten minutes into the second half, OEs were onto yet another front row combination and making use of fresh speed in the outside backs. Despite this, a moment of hesitation led to an interception by whits 13 Aaron Dacosta (freshly returned from injury) who ran the length of the pitch to score an complete individual try, giving optimism to OW as they advanced the score to 29 - 14.

With karmic retribution OEs responded by capitalising on an OW handling error, scoring in the left hand corner and making the score 29 - 19.

In another crucial blow to the Whits, our ever-present Sri-Lankan talisman was cut down in a nasty double tackle, his knee sustaining a possible MCL tear. God speed to your swift recovery Gunni.

Down to a bare 15 and with forwards in the backline the Whits held strong but the OEs seemingly never ending 'bench' kept churning. Injections of fresh speed and weight (such weight) paid off for the visitors with with a try at 60 minutes, making the score 29 - 24. Feeling their fresh props tip the scale of momentum, OEs fully took the chase in their teeth and continued to barrage the tired Whits line taking back the lead with a flurry of quick tries.

With the clock past 80 minutes, OEs threw their final punch to bring their total tally to a round 50 points vs the Whits valiant 29. 

As ever, the scoreline does not fully reflect the battle that ensued. Regardless, I for one am very grateful to see Wanderers rugby back in 2023 and look forward to the final leg of the season. 

Authored by Bobby J Yorke with contributions from Chris “I can’t walk” Sheilsy and Rob “I need 5 minutes” Sandford.
Uploaded to Pitchero by Rupert “It’s a tib-fib break” Bradshaw.