Following a fairly disruptive week of changing opposition, blizzard conditions and missing a few key personnel, the 3rd XV took the field as the sole representatives of the ONs on Saturday. We had a large squad of players and the warm-up went well in near ideal conditions.

We played up the slope in the first-half against a well-drilled Casuals side who had recently won their merit league. This was apparent and the opposition began to dominate set pieces and territory. Our defence was strong but yielded eventually to a backs move which put them under the posts for the first score. Further pressure and a few moments of indiscipline, led to gaps in our defence and their forwards crashed over for a second try. From the restart, our luck began to change and a pinpoint penalty kick into the corner gave us a line out on their 5m. Our catch and drive was unopposed and Mike Savage went over for our first try. Soon afterwards some surging runs from the forwards pushed us back into their half leading to Ben Garrett going over for our second try near the posts, converted by Will Smith. Just as we were starting to dominate and play the better rugby, a breakaway try from Casuals made the half-time score 12-19.

After the break, the second half started really well for us and we played most of the next 20 minutes in their half. We were also starting to dominate the scrum and the breakdown. Despite this, we struggled to convert pressure into points. A couple of further tries from Casuals extended their lead. We eventually started to use the conditions and found ourselves in the bottom corner for a line out which we attempted to drive over the line. A couple of pick and goes put us right on their line. The ball popped out over the line, and a couple of spilt passes saw Lewis Burford pounce on the ball to make the final score 19-31. Not the result or the performance we wanted, but it gave a few people some valuable game time after not having played for a while. Next week sees the thirds back in league action away against Sharnbrook.

Match report by Jez Leeke