Extra A 14 v Fullerians 2s 27

The Extra A travelled to Watford to face Fullerians on Saturday, a side that we had beaten at home in a fiercely contested game in the first half of the season. It was cold, windy and the pitches were somewhat stodgy; the conditions, coupled with our arrival 30 mins before kick off, were not ideal for what we knew would be a tough match against a good opposition.

Fullerians kicked off and we were under pressure immediately; the high ball fumbled from the very first play of the game. It seemed that the Blues were on a mission to give their opponents possession, and this told after just 5 minutes when a number of mistakes and penalties against us saw Fullerians force a penalty which was converted for 3 points. Following this some questionable defence allowed our opponents to gain good ground, and they were soon camped on our line; a few close crash balls sucked in our defence and saw their 13 crash over under the posts for the opening try; the conversion was added. The game continued very much the same way for the next 10 minutes, with the Extra A playing like a side who didn't deserve to be in this league, let alone joint top of it. It was unsurprising then, that Fullerians scored again soon after, another penalty into the corner, another crash ball drive resulted in the same story- another 7 pointer. We lost Alex Walsh at this point which saw the early introduction of Dean Boyle at 9. Things did not improve following the second Fullerians try and 2 minutes after, our shoddy defence was cut open again; credit to the Fullerians winger who chipped over and showed his pace to gather for a well finished try in the in-goal area. The remainder of the half was a string of unforced errors, poor decision making and a lack of desire for the struggling Stortford.

The half started slightly more brightly, with some actual phases starting to come together from the Blues but we still could not gather any real momentum. Fullerians scored yet again though, utilising a big blind side and a simple overlap to run in the score; the conversion was missed. It was now that the Blues woke up, albeit only slightly- 15 mins into the half winger Roche cut inside and showed his power and pace to get away from the defence to go in under the posts. We finally had 7 points on the board, and with the prospect of winning the game all but gone, at least we had some pride to play for. Things looked a bit more positive and after Tindall broke the line, he was able to feed the battling Ben Baker to score again- conversion added with what would be the last meaningful act of the day.

The final score was 27-14, and to be brutally honest that flattered us. Fullerians had a basic game plan which they stuck to well but this was hands down the worst performance of the season from Extra A, who have now been bought crashing back down to earth. Man of the match was Ben 'The Saint' Baker who was the shining light in an otherwise dark day for the Extra A. D*ck of the day could've been anyone but skipper Slade took it on himself as he, along with the majority of other players, had a bit of shocker.

A backlash is required next week.