The first glimpse of spring was a very welcome sight as we arrived at Hurlingham park to play a split squad Hammersmith team - soft ground instead of mud, and warm enough to play with some bare skin. It was also the first attempt at a series tour with 3 back to back matches against the same opposition. Pretty sure the boys have a new understanding of the rigours of a tour - especially with the home team bringing on some late reinforcements.

The games started well - with the boys flying out of the traps. Hard tackling was the start, and then the passes started to click. It was great to see the multiple styles being integrated as well - felt like almost every ruck the halfbacks had the option to go one side to a charge and the other way to a backs hands play. Even better - both options were actually being taken. The boys scored a couple of tries in the first half, and then ran riot in the second. Great to see a mix of scorers as well - from power runs to being on the shoulder. Our jackalling was also dominant - the Hammers coaches said their boys had never seen anything like it and were a bit shell shocked

The second match we tried out some new combinations and positions, and though there were definitely some growing pains, was great to see the different roles. Boys learning something new, and working as a group. Tackling kept going as well (though still a little reliant on a few hard hitters) and though Hammers came back and the start of the second half the boys managed to pull it out. The tiredness was starting to show though - with some bangs starting to make an impact.

The fun kept going - a third match down to 9v9 as Hammersmith lost some players (and filled in with some new legs). They started the stronger this time - breaking through three times as the tackling started to slide off. The boys were playing their hearts out, but were definitely starting to slacken. They raised themselves heroically at the start of the second half to score two tries (including our first chargedown), but just couldn’t quite keep it going. Hammersmith finished with a consolation win in the series.

Overall was very proud of the boys - our smaller team beat a much larger Hammersmith team for skill, got some new faces involved with tries spread around, and saw some great play - a multi phase try from our own line being the highlight.