Moor’s preparation for this local derby could have been better. Last minute fitness tests and late arrivals, combined with no-shows, left the Moor skipper in a 5 second quandary. Studs checked, team sorted.

“Call him ‘Sir’, was the skipper’s first directive, “no-one call him Lewis, and I’ll do all the talking”. This was going to be such a difficult thing for some of the Moor players to do, having played with the referee and witnessed him whinge, moan, plead with and abuse every ref under the sun during his playing career. Yet the lads managed to do just that!

Moor’s plan was simple – give the ball to the backs and watch them go! The forwards did a great job of supplying ball, but they didn’t rest on their laurels – they supported the seamstresses all over the park to good effect. A tight and tidy scrummage gave solid ball, and when we work out our own lineout calls we’ll be awesome! Initial clearing of rucks was great, and superior body strength saw many mauls won.

The first try came from open play, with the backs releasing Wing, Luke Whitehurst, who beat his man and stepped outside the fullback to score with power on the left wing – his debut try in senior rugby (plenty more to come, I reckon!). Phil Thomas converted from near the left hand touchline.

Moor were now in the ascendancy – snuffing out Toc attacks and launching major forays into home territory.

A take against the head was swiftly turned into attack by Flight Officer Heath who slung a miss-pass to Reynolds in the centre. Reynolds ghosted into the gap, accelerated and touched down under the sticks for an easy try, converted by scrum half, Jaz Kondratowicz. Similar moves saw Moor squander scoring chances as the last pass went to ground or was knocked-on.

Moor continued to exert pressure – the scrummage remained tight and the forwards competed for every ball in the loose. Clever running and kicking pinned Toc into their own half, and holding penalties gave Moor another 6 points as Phil Thomas boomed a couple over the ‘H’s. Half time, and Moor 20-0 to the good.

Toc competed well in the first period of the second half, but Moor retaliated with some good spoiling rugby, forcing the home backs into mistakes. A fly-hack in the centre after 10 minutes saw Thomas race through on the ball – he gathered and looked for support. Enter Chris ‘Nitro’ Sutton on his left shoulder. Thomas didn’t fancy the 40 yard run to the line so popped to Sutty who glided to the posts un-opposed. 7 more points in the bag, and the game all but over. SAS went off with a sniper-shot to the ribs, and Andy Reason slid into the second row.

Toc summoned their reserve and deserved to score under the Moor sticks after the visitors handed them penalties on a plate for ruck infringements. The guys need to listen to the ref, and they need to blow the opposition backwards rather than fiddle about trying to get hands on ruck ball.

Moor then re-asserted their dominance by pushing deep into the home half, which is where most of the remainder of the game took place. A super scrum saw Jaz feed Heath, and a well-worked decoy run from Reynolds allowed Heath to pop Thomas into the widest gap this side of Amsterdam for a score under the sticks.

This point signalled game over, and Moor continued to dominate for the remainder of the match – final whistle Toc 5, Moor 34.

A proud captain praised the lads on a magnificent start to the season – more to continue hopefully against Bowdon at home next week.

Moments:

Tommo – “It’s a good job you were there (to Sutty) cos I’m ****ed if I was going to run that far today.”

Lewis… “Ruck! No hands Moor… No hands… Moor! No hands… Moor, no hands…Leave it Moor…......  advantage Yellow (Toc)!”

Air Traffic Controller Heath…  “Come through here, lads – no defence in this channel – feel free to attack here!”

Dave Goodwin – ace work and a fantastic tackle count.

Mark Graham  - did the hard work, made the hard yards, great stuff.

Higgy – “I’ve just got my second wind.” Quote to skipper somewhere near half time.