The first half was described by one sponsor as a War of Attrition as both teams were eager to give nothing away. Penalties were traded in the opening ten minutes and both teams had a man sin-binned before the break. There was plenty of flowing rugby on show from both teams but defences dominated and any breaks that were made were quickly suppressed. The stand-out highlight of the first half came on 25 minutes. A kick through from Sam Westhead resulted in a favourable bounce which Tom Sephton scooped up before quick hands found Musker who dotted down for the first try of the day. HT: 8-3.

The defensive effort in the first half had taken its toll on players in both teams and gaps were starting to appear. Early pressure from Ruskin led to them extending their lead with a penalty on 49 minutes. Ten minutes later dominant coast-to-coast rugby from Ruskin was rewarded when Will Smith evaded three tackles to score in the corner with the score at 16-3. Five minutes later Birchfield received a second sin-bin for a high tackle - the resultant penalty being converted to extend the lead to two scores. Birchfield started the weekend on equal points with Ruskin, they have had a strong start to the season after moving to the NOWIRUL Leagues from the ADM. They showed their character with a try 11 minutes from the end. Continued pressure from the visitors led to several penalties. Eventually Birchfield's tenancity paid off with a converted try and a 9-point difference putting the visitors back in the game. Ruskin responded to the score with four minutes left on the clock - Ben Smith converting a penalty. In the dying embers of the game the referee signalled the last play of the match. The supporters encouraged the players to end the game but Ruskin had other ideas. Several phases on play, with strong running from Jon McGarvey and Sam Derbyshire led to Dyson crashing over in the corner and giving a final score of 27-10.

Coach Birch was bouyant after the final whistle saying "Good win against a team that will beat most. Discipline was good, [the lads] respected and played for each other as a team, lads did their own jobs and stood up. Score looked comfortable in the end but we blew at least 2 tries, dropped too much ball and missed too many 1-on-1 tackles...but all in all a good win."