Obviously the first game

After our opposition again cancelled on us, we managed to get a fixture against Chiswick III XV. After beating a mixed Chiswick team at the end of last season we were confident of repeating that result.

Unfortunately we had 14 people unavailable with genuine reasons mainly not in the country so with a weakened team we took to the field. With those available we had a bug strong pack but lacked pace in the backs this was evident when our captain Andy Crew had to move from the back row to inside centre.

The match had a very auspicious start when the first kick of the game by Quins didn't go 10m (though most of our team thought it was perfect distance). The game was very scrappy and it was obvious that it was at the beginning of the season. A lot of dropped balls and turnovers and the lineout didn't fire all game.

After a few attempts from both teams in attack that didn't turn into anything Quins found themselves in Chiswick's 22. The forwards attacked short for a couple phases the ball then went out to Kyle McKie at 13 who managed to beat one defender and fight himself over the line to score and put Quins 0-5 up. The conversion was missed with and awful attempt.

Chiswick then had possession for a long period of time but the Quins defence was up to the task until finally we gave away a penalty on the edge of our 22 which they duly obliged to slot over to make it 3-5.

The rusty play continued from both sides with lots of turnovers for both sides. Some good running for our back row saw some penetrative play but conceding many penalties Chiswick pinned us pack in our 22 and finally crossed the whitewash to make it 10-5.

Quins managed to find themselves with an attacking scrum about 15m from the try line but after a couple of collapses the referee called for half time rather than penalising anyone.

The second half was much like the first though Chiswick were starting to click a bit more than Quins, we still managed to find ourselves in a try scoring opportunities but managed to either turnover or concede a penalty just metres from the try line.

Chiswick after some good interplay just inside their own half managed to send their winger over, the try was converted to make the score 17-10. The game became harder for Quins as due to a couple of injuries a lot of moving around in the team meant that we were a lot weaker over the park. But still Quins still probed and managed a few more lines and on another day may have scored a lot more tries.

The game finished with some fantastic inter play over 60m to score a try with the final act of the game, unfortunately it was Chiswick that scored and the game finished 24-5.

Our Man of the Match was given to Tom Samuel who was faultless at full back. Very confident under the high ball and put in some excellent probing kicks.

After the match we all agreed we were very match rusty which is to be expected for the first match, but even though there were a lot of mistakes there were periods of very good play where we used our game process and made serious yards.

If we continue to train together the rust will be gone very quickly and we will start playing some excellent rugby and start winning our matches. It is an exciting time and I really think we can push the league and win it.