This was he big local International!!!

The Bulldogs RFC v London French!!!

What a very fine game we had against the floppy hat brigade!

The touchline was awash with French supporters wearing berets and clutching wine bottles…they were very accommodating to the Bulldog supporters and a number could be seen staggering towards the end of half time! The cries of Allez, Allez le bleu could be heard every time one of the French players touched the ball

However, The Bulldogs held steady and Simon and Roger kept a grip on the game,

A few old stalwarts were back in the team in the shape of Lenny the Leap who had his usual non compromise game and took the n game to the French

Mark in the front row had a tremendous battle with a rather strong oppo who never let up…we won good ball from our set pieces and Steve looked good in the lineout

Dom had his work cut-out at scrum half as this week he had a young fit and very fast and small scrum half to try and cope with. In spite of this he managed to get the ball away to Roger at no 10 and hen onto Brad and Gus in the centres but the French outsides tackled in classic style…..low and deadly…our big centre attack was constantly stifled and the ball never reached Sappa Pete on the wing and Tricky Nicky on the other one

The pack played well and pushed ahead and the game was very finely balanced throughout the game and it rally was question of who would make the mistakes first!

Our problems were very much down to player’s holdingotno the ball too long and getting caught and the ball lost, this happened time and time again and with player outside waiting for the passes it was a huge disappointment.

However, Big Simon made a good drive through the centre of the filed carving and driving for the line to get a well deserved try. This made up for the rather soft try try we gave away in the early part of the game.

The game moved ahead again when Nick kicked on and followed up the ball after a 100 yd sprint to beat the full back to the ball and dived over to put another try on the board. Roger converted one try and kicked a good penalty

This put the game at a draw and a game that we could have won with more distribution of the distribution of the ball and a more team approach …..Martin had a few good runs at full back and is learning fast… Man of the match was Nick who downed a pint in record time….Martin is still trying to emulate him and by the the end of the season we hope he can down a pint in one and become a pucker Bulldog and not a rookie!

The team photos by Iron Man Tony came out sharp and crisp in spite of a very dark afternoon…..the ones of Matt waving from the base of a scrum is classic and Mark’s face sums it all up…..Martin got in the frame a few times and you

The Bulldog front row was overwhelmed by their garlic eating opposite numbers and the touchline supporters were going very well being plied with good French wine ……the scene was set for an exciting game!

The pre-chat training session and game plan was talked through…we had played L.French many times and they tend to produce short little outsides with legs that go 19 to the dozen..Their forwards tend to be on the young and agile side with a smack of Beziers thrown in. The shove in the front row was awesome and surprised us on a number of occasions.

GAME NEXT SAT HOME 2;30 K.O

Cheers

Colin/tony
TO DOWNLOAD ALL THIS WEEKS PHOTO'S CLICK HERE!!!!!!!