After some last minute adjustments, the starting fifteen was assembled and our spare player given to Yatton. Oldfield made an instant impact with young Ali Lane slotting over a penalty, the start of a faultless day with the boot. Yatton came back strongly and had their own penalty to level the scores, their kick fail to reach the posts and Oldfield played their way back into Yatton’s 22.

After some good work in the loose, Dan Gallagher bustled his way through Yatton’s midfield and made an impressive stretch to touch down. This was the start of a regular pattern for the first half, with the forwards securing good ball in the loose, before distributing to a young and adventurous back line that cut great lines through the defence. Other try scorers in the first half, included the excellent Toby Lewis-Donaldson at fly-half, another from Dan Gallagher and some reward for the hard working forwards with JR Hartley barging over for one.

Oldfield had the upper hand in the scrums with Lloyd Madden hooking well; line outs were a bit of a lottery with both sides struggling to find their jumpers and Oldfield and the referee thoroughly confused by the numbers game played by Yatton. The referee had a great game and stood for no back chat or advice from players, even from an incensed JR!

31-0 up at half time and enjoying themselves, Oldfield were mindful of not throwing it away and applied themselves diligently to the second half; Yatton also upped their game and the scoreboard remained static for long periods. Shortly after struggling up from what appeared a serious injury, Simon Pridmore stepped inside the Yatton defence and charged to the line for his second try in two weeks (his injury wasn’t so serious after all). With the result now not in doubt, the game started to open up and a look of terror came over Lloyd Madden’s face as he found himself with the ball in acres of space, he promptly passed the ball into touch.

Roger Parker, coming out of retirement, showed the power of momentum when bouncing off Yatton tacklers in a couple of forays and ended up dragging most of Yatton’s defence over the line with him to score a try. Simon Vanstone, obviously keen to make an impression on the gaggle of young girls on the touchline, suddenly found inspiration and danced past multiple defenders during his half the pitch run to the try line.

After the snow and cancelled games, it was great to be back. Credit must also go to Yatton for making the long journey with 14 players and playing the game in such a great spirit.