3/11/2005 - OSTERLEY 55 PHOENIX 14

The reason for the 'Official Osterley Score' is due to the ref being unable to keep up with the HUGE number of tries scored by Osterley.
NINE tries plus conversions. Our try fest was contributed by the following players :-

Geoff 3 Tommo 2 Les (Loaned player) 2 Jay Jay 1 Daffydd 1 ' My maths makes 45 points without conversions.

The ref gave the final score as 46-14 but this clearly wasn't possible from NINE tries. He clearly missed some tries as well as the action during the 30 minute each way match. (Due to the Wales v NZ match)

There was a shortage of Osterley players on the day due to last minute unavailability. Thankfully Phoenix loaned us two. The game was played with 13 Osterley players to their 14 Phoenix players. The game was played hard by the Phoenix forwards who dominated the scrums and didn't like it when we actually won the occasional scrum. This frustration was soon taken out on Daffydd by Mr Baldy who decided to knee drop into his ribs whilst he was on the ground without the ball. But the ref didn't seem to see that either.

Again we welcome two new first time players for Osterley - Richard (prop) and William (wing) who both appeared to enjoy themselves with some great play from both. The restarts always seemed to be kicked to land in the arms of Richard who set the ball up nicely each time. William having some great runs when he got his hands on the ball. Both of you are welcome anytime.

With Jerry playing at Scrum Half, Danny Sen in the second row with Jay Jay and Tommo as Hooker it clearly wasn't the ideal positions.
Once again the spirit of Osterley came through with Tommo quickly opening the scoring off an intelligent chip over the top by Daffydd which Phoenix couldn't gather. Tom W.J. managed to last a whole game without tripping anybody and without being sent off. Geoff seemed to enjoy the fact there was space to beat his opposition with pace and pressurise his opponent into dropping the ball most of the time. The best part of the game for me was the great support from ALL our players when a break was made.

It's the best I've seen this support all season.

And Yes... Tommo has one black eye and one purple/yellow/red and black eye. This was a result of the game and NOT domestic violence which will take some convincing with his colleagues at work.