It was a big afternoon as our first game was played against a touring side who all turned up in tour cloths (fancy dress) and they were in full quaffing mood. Once again a great example of fun rugby which was played out on the top pitch. It was a high scoring game which the Ton won by 48-38 but that’s not the point, as everyone had a good time and a big thanks to the Tourist who are called Nottingham Casuals and they were a credit to they club.

So… on to the main event. The Ton at the fortress, in front of a big crowd, against a gnarly St Mary’s old boys and all for a place in the final.
We went three up early on but coming down the hill the visitors managed to get out in front and were 13-3 up at the turn but the Bristolians looked good.
This meant there was a lot to do even with the slope favour and when they added another try shortly after to go 3-18 up, we looked doomed. At his point I’m going to mention the man with the whistle as throughout he was what can only be described as rather zealous with the blowing of it and it seemed it was done every few minutes which meant the game struggled to have any fluidity. If honest our boys coped with this best as the opposition kept falling out with him which resulted in yellow cards aplenty. Anyway… we stayed strong as we came down “the field of dreams” and we scored and then had a try disallowed which we thought was good . Still battling away we then got two more tries and were now ahead 22-21 for the first time. It was nip n tuck but the final score saw us out pace them out wide to go six points clear but it was frantic at the end and we had to do some serios defending on our own line but we hung in there and won by 27-21. Phew! but hey it was a semi final so it was expected to be close and we are now in the final. Must say credit to the opposition as they looked good through out and they will rue their discipline on the day. Done and dusted, beer quaffed and must just say a big thanks to Emma for sorting the grub and to Brad and team for doing a long shift behind the bar.

Onwards ….Sunday Junior presentation day!… what ! rain turned up, how dare it! It was brief and didn’t really spoil the day and each team had their trophies awarded which is always inspiring.
I’ll say it as it needs to be done, huge thanks to all the volunteers for all the hard work over the year and whilst rugby has it’s turmoil’s around the country, Community rugby at the Ton is alive and well. So if you’re one of them there volunteers, give yourselves a pat on the back, what you do is greatly appreciated by many children of this ‘er Parrish.

Ok…. What’s next after that win … The final!.... and it’s the nightmare scenario no one wanted. Dinner and dance on the Friday and then a big cup final on Saturday… aaahh! Just not ideal but can’t be helped. I would suggest moderation is the order of the day for the players on Friday night which is unfortunate.
So planning for the big day!....and with very short notice we have managed to sort a players bus and a supporters bus as well. The details for this are on the Faceache page.
The game is being played at Dings Crusaders stadium. When I played against them in my Bristol days, they were know as Dirty Dings and we had some right old humdingers against them and their club house was basically a sh*t hole but somehow they ran 5 sides out of it. How things have changed, sold the ground and moved to the outskirts out of Bristol and now they have a 4G stadium set up which they share with Bristol Bears ladies. That’s the venue and on the day they are hosting 4 finals and this means we have an early kick off of 1pm. If you’re driving allow yourselves plenty of time to get there it will be busy.
Our opposition for the day is Gloucester based “North Cheltenham” who are good and rumour has it, they have several South sea islanders amongst their ranks which has somewhat bolstered their standing this season. Make no mistake it will be a tough gig and so it should be, it’s a cup final.
Big thanks to Churchie, Finn, Jonny, Jules and Chris for sorting the logistics for the day. No end of problems with all this but heyho… There’s a players breakfast at the club before the guys leave and great news Anne is back in the kitchen after her long illness which is great to hear.

Think I’ll leave it there and fingers crossed we come home with the bacon…

Finally a very appropriate #UTT

I think I’ll go with my “Lord Jez” sign off today.