It was a a tough day for the Old Street 2nd and 3rd XV squad which disappointedly resulted in two losses against two well drilled sides. Both games however saw some good contributions both in terms of our ability to create and make use of space in open play and periods of defense. Our first set of opposition was Chiswick who were playing on home soil and the first half offered some good viewing with some free flowing rugby from both sides. Chiswick opened the scoring in the first ten minutes of the game which came from a number of phases of forward play and the try was converted. Old Street responded in a positive frame of mind and started to show our potential through some excellent link play between the backs and the forwards. Charlie Joslain went over the line to make it one try a piece - the conversion however was not meant to be. A series of substitutions from both sides eventually saw Chiswick start to pull away from Old Street and the final result was 32-5.

After a quick water break we were back on the pitch to face a strong Teddington side who had Old Street on our try line for a good period of the first half. However the defence was gutsy and we managed to restrain them for a majority of the first half before they eventually nudged over the try line. Our defence had been starting to creak toward the end of the Chiswick game and therefore we did well to regroup and put up a fight. In deed following the opening try we responded with some attack of our own and continued to make some yards, although at this point fitness and the blazing heat was starting to take it's toll. The second half saw further substitutions from both sides and Teddington opting for a slightly more dubious selection policy to that of Old Street - perhaps some of their first team had accidently wandered onto the wrong pitch...Still Old Street mustered together and faced the enemy, an enemy however that proved to be a better side. The end result - we suffered a small defeat..

There were plenty of positives to take from the game in terms of new players putting in some good performances, set pieces starting to come together, some excellent performances of open play and on the flip side of the coin some good defence at times. We do have a lot to work on however, but we can do so knowing that we have a lot of positives to build on and that as a squad we have the strength and depth of skills to challenge in our respective leagues.

Dave Pritchard