Development Squad 21 Blackheath 24  

Well our 100% season has come to an end and really should not have done. Blackheath were a well drilled side and had the determination to win but it should have still been our game. 

We went behind very early on but came straight back down to score back through Clem and then let them score again and a penalty to trail 17 – 5. During this period the ref realised that he had a new set of cards in his pocket all with Shelford written on them first sin-binning Clem and then James Briggs. This was not going to deter us and we fought back through scores from Charlie Worthington and Andy Childerley and a penalty from James Worthington to lead at the break 18 – 17.

The second half showed a spirited start and another penalty from James Worthington took the lead to 21 – 17. But we still don’t learn. Knowing exactly how the ref has been all game we still believe that the more we mouth off to the ref the likelihood is that he will change his mind and apologise to us for making wrong calls and seeing infringements differently.

 Not surprisingly a further sin-binning and countless penalties against us they score and take the lead and yet we still don’t learn. Discipline and persistent chatting to the ref and internal moaning cost us this game and left unaltered will cost us many games in the future and needs to be sorted.

However, the true test of character in the side is how we react in our next game. If we play the same again and learn nothing from this then we have problems ahead. If we learn a lot cut out the rubbish and start concentrating on the good aspects of our game and go out and just play rugby and play it well then we have a very enjoyable journey ahead because we are very capable of doing well in this league. Hopefully we will do the latter as a squad and roll on our next fixture.