A budget no less…. I think it’s fair to say no one likes paying more tax but it seems to me, if you really want things to work properly in this country that’s the only way we can do it…. but and it’s a big but, everyone including me wants to feel that money allocated to public services etc gets used wisely and all Government Departments are run efficiently without money getting wasted. Sadly, I guess a lot of us just don’t see this as happening at the mo. Could rabbit on but won’t as I don’t want to upset anyone as we all try to juggle finances. Maybe I should stick to criticising the Orange buffoon, he’s a much easier target I think.

So… Saturday, a few of us did a fair bit of graft to get everything ready for the Combe Estate sponsor lunch and the double header game against Withycombe. Well…. Lunch went well but with torrential rain all night and most of the day the game was just not playable which was a huge disappointment to all, especially our guests but having walked the pitch with Paul Coates and Richard Marker I think we agreed it was the right decision and if we had played it, it would not have been fun to play in or for that matter watch. Because of the late “call off” which I hasten to add was agreed between both sets of players, I had turned up in full sou’westers gear as I was supposed to be running the line and there was much chortling as I’d not been told and I looked a bit out of place… when has that ever bothered me I ask. Did take me a while to get the gear off mind.
Hey ho, not much we could do so we all then watched the Wales game and as predicted they got a bit of a kicking but I guess they made a fist of it but the score against Wales still got over 50.
I hope our guest weren’t too disappointed and it looked like wine was quaffed so that’s good. Thanks to Anne for doing the grub and the Bar gang for sorting everything out.
Just in case you are a diary bod the rearranged game is to be on the 31st Jan when it will remain a double header of league and cup rolled into one.

Now…. down on the coast they obviously didn’t have as much rain as us up ‘er and this meant our two’s game went ahead. Which was great and we have 5 or 6 fairly new to rugby recruits so it was a chance for them to see what it was all about. We were slow to get going and were a couple of tries down early on. We did improve and the scrum and line was working well. Unfortunately they scored a couple more to our one penalty and we turned around 24-3 down We then bumped into a few injuries and the opposition did look sharper in the backs and this meant we were sadly up on on the losing side, going down by 44 but hey a game of rugby and by all accounts it was a good game and our “newbies” acquitted themselves well which is promising.

Now.. I’d like to think it was because of our new drainage systems and the fact it stopped raining at 4.30 and with no rain over night the games on Sunday were able to go ahead. Which was a plus.
The 7s played up top, top pitch and they had two games against Somerton. Nicki Perry’s under 8’s also had a great fixture against Somerton and everyone acquitted themselves well. Our 9s or should I say our army of 9’s who seem to have nearly a million players, faced an equally big squad from Somerton it was close and we matched them all the way and I think we just sneaked it.
10s led by Will Bardot and Rich Parish lead the boys to a really strong performance and we won that one. The 11s also on the top pitch just looked far slicker than the Somerset boys and clearly came out on top of this one and the “other” Under 11’s team were away at Yeovil and they had a three way mini tournament that also included Castle Carry we won one and lost one so not bad on the road some ref grumblings there I’m afraid ....
The 12’s were away against Wiveliscombe and it was a great performance and our boys were both stronger and faster and we came out on top in this one as well.
The 13s were at home to Somerton and we went down by 8-6 but... a very different story here. Somerton came needing 2+ players. Nobody wanted to put the white and blue hoops on. But big well done to the two boys who did particularly Wilson Lapping as he played a full game for Somerton. He had no problem tackling his mates and he scored a couple of tries for them as well… don’t think we will be lending him again but hey, rugby was played and it’s a good example of how this sport works.
14s away to Wiveliscombe I think we just lost but we haven’t had a full report on this one. The 15’s and 16’s didn’t have fixtures.

Watched England scrape it against a good Argie side and it was a bit of a squeaky bum at the end but a clean sweep over the 4 games which is good.

So… on to this weekend, there’s no lunch this week as we had an unfortunate cry off from the sponsor which was a shame but couldn’t be helped. So it’s just a mere matter of a double home. The Ones have the tricky matter of an OPM’s visit and the 2nd team are entertaining Brixham 3rds. So come on down we could do with the support.

On Sunday a full house of games as well… against Withycombe, we have the 7s at Home with a 10 KO on the top Pitch, 9s - Home 10KO TP. The 10s - Away - for 930KO. The 13s - Home - 930KO BP. The 15s - Home - 12:30KO BP and the 16s are Away - for 11KO.
Against Tiverton the 8s are Away - 10KO. Against Brixham the other 11’s are Away 11KO and at home v Brixham are the 12’s ko is at 11.30 TP.
In the 14’s cup league we are away at Cully.

That’ll do for this week so #UTT

Jez