3rds take the points in impressive display in the Himalayas.

Moor turned up at the aptly named ‘Sunnyfields’ ground with a bare 15… well, it’s better than 14, isn’t it?! Dave ‘The Cave’ Nolan was asked to stand on the wing again. Tom Ireland was told he’d be ‘libero’ this week, and failed to understand that this meant a free role at the back where he could roam and exert maximum pressure. Danny ‘O’ (sounds like a character from Ocean’s 11 or a Tarantino blockbuster) was gifted the outside centre berth, and the forwards huddled together from time to time, either in a bunch for scrums or a tidy line when the ball went off the park.

Kick off and Moor had all the advantages – slope, sun and wind, thanks to the Buxton skipper who decided that his troops should benefit from the above in the last 40. Didn’t quite work out that way though, did it?!!

Ft. Sgt. Heath plonked a long kick into the home half, and the game began. Almost immediately Moor took the game to Buxton. Moor were quicker to the early breakdowns and cleared or turned over good ball, giving their potentially deadly backs the chance to attack. And they did! Jaz sniped up the blind side (ouch!) and fed Heath who carried to release Darwin who appeared suddenly from an unseen fox-hole (bellowing in support) and SAS off-loaded to the ubiquitous Tom Ireland who eased over and sprinted through the molehills to touch down near the sticks – Jaz converted with a hefty 120 MPH tailwind – Buxton is high enough to benefit from the jetstream! Then Moor again drove deep into Buxton territory and some quick second phase play saw Dave ‘The Cave’ Nolan burst onto a delayed pass at nearly 23 miles an hour to crash over for an unconverted try in the right corner. The score remained thus until the last play before half time, when Buxton managed to stay in Moor’s 22 for long enough to score with a short-range barge over after a series of rucks. Half time blew at 12-7 to Moor, and Buxton thinking they’d done enough against the elements to take the second half without much trouble.

How wrong they were!

Moor returned the Buxton kick-off with interest as the second half commenced. A quick ruck saw Heath launch Reynolds, now in exocet mode, into the breeze. A fantastic handling interchange between Exocet Jarhead and the Black-Helmeted Oldland led to a pitch-length touchdown which Jaz duly sand-wedged over the horizontal for a devastating reply to the Buxton pre-half-time bonus point! The boys were back in town!

Jarhead followed this up with another devastating long-range effort and the win looked secured. Yet another break saw hih one-on-one with the fullback who desperately tried decapitation as a means of stopping the Moor rapier. A penalty try was the correct award and Jaz nine-ironed another conversion. He also forced a try for himself as Buxton were pressured on their own line - the resulting pass was nowhere near the waiting fly-half and Jaz pounced to touch down. Unfortunately we forgot to include this in the score!

By the final whistle Moor had deflated the home side by proving that the elements and slope aren't the only thing that matter - spirit is essential, and we were full to the brim of that today!

As usual, Heath pulled the strings with pomp at Fly Half and was duly promoted to Squadron Leader after a near faultless display (i.e. nothing that went wrong was his fault!).