Unfortunately the emphatic score line in CS’s favour sheds no light on which of the participating club’s officials won the contest for being as cunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Cunning at Oxford University*.
On the Tuesday before the match CS received a request from Sevenoaks to consent to the expedited registration of their own ex-player Matt McRae. Whilst a debut for one’s new club against one’s old one might not be everyone’s cup of tea, or whatever the Trojan equivalent of that beverage might be, CS of course could immediately detect that such a gambit could only be borne of desperation and, with no reason at all to object, consented with alacrity. Whichever club was delivering the psychological or perhaps tactical masterstroke no one will ever know: Sevenoaks’ payment of the expedited registration fee proved not to be money well spent as the unfortunate Matt in the event had to withdraw from the game after injuring himself at Sevenoaks’ Thursday night training!
The contest, just like the one at Sevenoaks, proved to be that old cliché : a game of two halves. The first period was very even and Sevenoaks deservedly reached the break with their noses just ahead at 8-9. Indeed that lead could have been greater: although the Stags had scored the only try, there were some tackles being missed.
Whatever was said by the coach or his team’s senior leaders at half-time, it certainly struck home although CS’s president, on another pretty indifferent day weather-wise, retained his own confidence all along in what past players would recognise as the tennis courts’ factor. Your reporter on the other hand, it has to be said, did not see the sea change coming.
As it turned out CS’s second half demolition of Sevenoaks did not depend on anything so prosaic , albeit it would have been the pragmatic tactic, as exploiting, as the President would have been anticipating, the wind and the ground’s contours . Instead the team showcased a panoply of skills, the most outrageous examples of which were delivered by outside half , Liam Cleary whose kick passes – one of which resulted in a try - were right on the money. Risk had its reward on this day at least and did not involve any too significant a gamble.
An alternative theory for the dramatic change of fortunes, mirroring as it did what happened in the away fixture, might be that CS was simply the fitter team and home supporters will hope certainly that that too was a significant factor.
Six second half tries – whilst keeping the visitors scoreless - decorated an emphatic victory but sterner tests undoubtedly lie ahead.
*Captain Blackadder in Blackadder Goes Forth.