The start of the U15 junior rugby started with the usual confusion at the Hayfields today. Arriving at 10am to find almost the entire car park full gave an indication that we had either attracted a larger crowd than a Chelsea European Cup home match or we had some severe conjestion problems with pitch allocation. As one might guess it was the latter problem that provailed and we all struggled in to the ground. The rain was holding off and was not forecast to flush its way through Bristol until late afternoon so the potential for ideal rugby weather was good. Only problem to worry about was the swirling wind that can sweep through the exposed areas of the Hayfields.

Pre-match warm up was behind the clubhouse where the ground was hard and the amount of pitch space available was limited to a patch of grass the size of my lilac coloured thong. Due to the over crowding on the day with mini's training and various other matches scheduled the boys had to run through their manoeuvres in between the U16 lineout practice and the Mangotsfield over-50's country dancing team. Not a great deal of space to work in but we now have three new moves including a Dosey-Doe, where the pack take three steps forward and one step back. The call sign for the move is "Yee-Haa".

Pre-match warm up completed the team went back into the clubhouse as it was starting to get a bit parky. No Tayler today as he was on round-ball duty so there needed to be a bit of a shuffle in the back line. Dan White was notable..sorry that sould read NOT ABLE to play due to a broken wrist, leaving Bambi Ford to step into the fly half position.

It should be noted at this point that I made a rather important observation today. It seems that John Tasker bears an uncanny resemblance to Mike from the Young Ones. This may not seem relevent to the match report but I'm typing this and so I don't really care!

A certain Mr Priddle took to the centre spot with whistle in hand and the game was about to start. With convenient timing the rain started to come down as if to welcome the start of the competitive rugby season.

The game was off to a lightening start. What struck me about the game from start to finish was the quickness and lightness of touch that the players had with the ball. The movement was superb and each player seemed desperate to keep the ball alive at all costs. This certainly drew dividends in the first minutes that started with a drive from Rikki in our own half. Going to ground on the half way line the ball was quickly out and moved down the line with confidence, each player drawing the opposing man before the off-load. With inevitable ease the ball finally fell to Snake-Hips Clarke who surged down the left wing and under the posts for the first try. As the boys were retreating to the half way line it only then became apparent that Rikki was hurt and finidng it difficult to walk. Substituted after just two minutes this seemed to shake the boys a little and Cheltenham, to their credit, came back with a renewed gusto. The onslaught lasted just over five minutes before another try went in under the posts. Same formula as before with quick and sure hands being the recipe for this try. Cheltenham were now on the back foot and never seemed to get back into the game. At the break Cleve were 38-0 with no likelihood of slowing down.

Second half brought about the most significant change as Ian Priddle was substituted for a referee with a light blue rugby shirt. Seems as though Ian was not wearing a regulation uniform and has been cited by the RFU. In any event the decisions became a little more confusing to understand but the final outcome never seemed to be in doubt. What was so remarkable about this performance was the fact that the scores were achived by backs and forwards alike. Most importantly though it seemed that we were watching a focused and cohesive unit rather than two disjointed sections of backs and forwards. Ball handling was excellent and the vision that was shown to keep the ball moving was a joy to watch. If Brain Ashton has nothing else to do next Sunday he cold do no worse than take a peek at the way the game of rugby can be played.

Try scorers: Ian Clarke (5), Andy Priddle (3), Adam Tabbard (1), Matt Starr (2) and Sam Ford (1)Conversions: Andy Priddle (8)