Over the years we have had some great matches against our friends at Old Emanuel, and it is fair they have always a tough team to beat, which did not happen often. The team were up for the challenge of getting off to a good start against them at junior level! The warm up was focussed and the starting team were quick to impose themselves on a large OEs side. Early pressure told, and Christian bundled over for the opening score which Oscar converted. The Vandals team continued to pen Old Emanuel back in their half. A clearance kick was gathered by Maxim who had a great match in his first outing at full-back. He beat a couple of men before the ball was quickly re-cycled and again Christian was on hand to wriggle through the defence to score.

Old Emanuel came back strongly and closed the gap to 12-5 with a well worked try. They dominated the last 10 minutes of the first half as they pressed for an equalizing score. A number of last ditch tackles saved the day for the Vandals - with Maxim twice ensuring our last line of defence held firm. Against the run of play the Vandals turned the ball over in their 22 and instead of kicking the ball out on the last play, they launched a counter attack with the ball eventually reaching Oscar who beat the least couple of defenders en route to the try line. With the extras added the half finished 19-5 which perhaps did not fully reflect the even possession and territory.

The second half saw the team rotated again and the momentum was with the Vandals. The ball went through the backs and Oscar spotted George who cut a great line back towards the line to scythe through the Emanuel backs and grab his first try of the season. Oscar added a tough conversion, before converting his own try to give the Vandals a 31 - 5 advantage.

To their credit Old Emanuel kept their heads up and took the game to the Vandals. The Vandals defence held firm for a number of phases, but a yellow card followed after a series of infringements close to the try line. Making the most of the numerical advantage, Old Emanuel grabbed two tries in quick succession - the first from a number 8 pick up from a scrum 5 yards out and then their skipper added a second from a penalty. The score was 33-17 going into the last five minutes.

There was time for the Vandals forwards to get onto the score sheet. A break down the left by Joe saw him close in on another try. The Old Emanuel defence hauled him down just short of the line, only for an offload to Tom Penman marauding down the wing (yes - I did mean to type 'wing') saw him crash over in the corner. Fabulous support play by Tom, who has a great knack of being in the right place, saw the Vandals have the last word and close out the match with a 38-17 win against a very spirited Emanuel team.

Thanks to Old Emanuel for getting a team together and giving us such a great match despite being short of a few of their regular players. Well done to the two Elliots who both made their debuts for us. Thanks to the coaches for their work with the team and to all the parents who supported us all on the day. We look forward to the return fixture early in 2016.