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It was an overcast, muggy autumnal morning, but the buzz was building nicely on the sidelines for Old Pats U12’s first matches of the season.

Both the Lions and the Eagles had home fixtures against strong local opposition and, after a solid pre-season throughout the summer and the whole of September, the entire squad was chomping at the bit to get stuck in.

The Lions were missing one or two of their ‘rhinos’ and came up against a big and strong Newent side in their first game.

The early collisions were a shock to the system and Newent took an early lead – the season had well and truly started! With great scrambling defence and by eliminating some of the handling errors plus good use of our very own ‘bomb squad’ (bench), the Lions started to gain parity in a tight contest.

Using the slope in the second half, along with mesmeric interplay, support runners and switches, the sustained pressure on the Newent line resulted in a try for the home side.

It would be remiss of this reporter not to note a thunderous tackle delivered midway through the half which cemented the momentum shift – the type of seismic event which changes the course of history – that saw the Lions finish with their tails up and 2 late tries disallowed. It was an honourable draw (1 – 1) that left the crowd wanting more.

Special mention must be made for a well-drilled Newent side who provided a stern physical test to get the new campaign up and running. The Eagles then played Newent in the following fixture and, I’m reliably informed, it was another ding-dong epic which finished with Newent as narrow victors (6 – 5).

Alex Webb-Peploe