Date: 22nd Dec 2007

On a day when the festive spirit was in the air and there were one too many Christmas party hangovers the Squirrels assembled a team to take on their most fiercely competitive rivals the OA's. The Squirrels looked forward to starting two of their recent signings Ali Luxford and Paul Evans. Unfortunately Ali heard that the Squirrels where to play against his beloved OA's his phone was switched off and hide nor hair was seen of him. Obviously Darren who had been working behind tirelessly behind the scenes to bring Luxford across to the Squirrels was disappointed. Jimmy A who had always been against the move was vindicated in his earlier appraisal of Luxford "he is not really Squirrels material too much of a bed wetter".

This meant that the Squirrels took the field with 15 men with no competitive front row as Sam Bacon had cried off on the morning of the game. Their was a certain amount of trepidation amongst the Squirrel brotherhood as they faced the 32 man OA squad containing many of their more senior players and some individuals who had come out of retirement to give the Squirrels a good hiding and thus makeing amends for the hiding they had taken four weeks earlier. This was not helped by the referee (who we thank for giving up his time to referee the game) as he decided without consultation to allow rolling subs in the spirit of the season.

The Squirrels shocked the OA's with some earlier pressure up front and dogged defence at close quarters. The OA's tried to fling the ball wide to exploit the Squirrels make shift backline. The OA's had not counted on Craig Rawlins, the South African OA reject, reading the game like a copy of his gay times he plucked an audacious miss pass from the figure tips of his opposite number and ran the length to score under the posts. The try was converted by Saunders.

The OA's came back from the restart and made swift progress through the Squirrels midfield through their physical centre partnership of Hepworth and Farrar. The pressure soon told and they scored two tries in quick succession.

The Squirrels pack kept working hard at the coal face and like Easy Company trapped in the wood at Bastogne in 1944 they refused to budge an inch despite the heavy onslaught. This gave Paul Evans the opportunity to score the Squirrels second with a beautiful weighted chip behind enemy lines. Evans gathered his own kick to score. Saunders disappointed the crowd missing the conversion. A lesser man's head could of dropped but relishing his captains roll and the teams need for his unique leadership style he fronted up for the restart.

With the referees grip on the game getting loser by the minute the OA's got over for their third try. Mather, Saunders and Atkinson were all close to ten minutes R&R but even this referee could not stack the odds that much to the OA's favour. With half time came a welcome rest and opportunity to regroup. The blood was up and this was a game the Squirrels knew they could win. The tactics were classic and simple. The Squirrels had the terrain (the slope), the offensive ordnance (the line out), the leadership (Evans kicking game) and the naked aggression of (Thraves, Googie, Waters, Rawlinson and the Coloney Massive). This would not be a friendly game and no Paul McCartney song would be written about this Christmas encounter.

The second half began with the OA's trying to exploit their lead. But the OA's over confidence and inability to win a single lineout would soon tell. With Paul Evans hitting the bottom corner and good chasing from the Squirrels the OA's were pinned down. All this pressure was starting to tell as the OA's bench became less eager to return to the fray. Time was now against the Squirrels but then Ashley Westhead darted over. Saunders put over the conversion much to Andy Weakling's surprise from the sidelines.

The game was now back on and the Squirrels now had the blood lust. With a penalty awarded the Squirrels kicked to the corner. There was just time for the lineout next play and the game was over and the Squirrels trailed by three. The line out was taken by the back in form Jimmy A at four. The scrum drove it towards the line with Chris Grey playing out of position at hooker screaming all the way. From the breakdown Westhead popped to Saunders who smashed through the closed defence and then stepped the full back and sprinted in (all from two yards out). The game was won. This was another example of what makes the OV's and the Squirrels a great place to play. Fifteen friends took to the pitch and proved that playing for each other we could overcome superior numbers and individual talent to win as a collective, a "Band of Brothers". In the spirit of the season Orb chose not to take the conversion and let the OA's head back to the Yacht club with story's of what could have been.

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Transfer News:

With Luxford failing a bottle test Westhead has an opportunity to use the funds else where. There have been rumours of Thomas Crowns agent being seen at the club in recent weeks. These reports could not be confirmed in the Slag and Lettuce on Saturday night.

What has been confirmed is that Ben Always will be moving to the Squirrels subject to a fitness test!!

Graphics & Design: S. Mandelbaum (shalom@mandelbaumonline.net)