With a squad of 35 the night before, this was the 'who's who' of OB's from recent(ish) past. As is inevitable, we had a few drop out, so a mere 30 on the day. This did mean we forfeited Dave 'juggernaut' Burrows, which was to prove painful (literally).
Warm up was of course minimal, although this didn't stop Charlie P from pulling a hamstring. Shock.
With the Failand striker striking early Rob the Tan smirked with the expression of a man who knew the bullet had been meant for him.
Nailsea & Backwell took the news that they would be playing two sides well (the fact some were already supping on pints prior to kick off probably helped) - and were great opponents throughout, even when the combination of 7s and winger stars (and lively dentists!) started to tear holes. The Fortress Failand slope worked its normal bizarre magic of seemingly favouring the side playing up it, so the second half was a close affair - about 30ish each.
As befits an OB's match report, not much to be said about the game. Some notes of worth:
Twinkle toes Tinks alternatively dancing and steamrolling through contact with some audacious offloads.
Sam F being Dave B's first victim, with 8 stitches in the inside of the lower lip. On-field expert diagnosis from Chan "ooo. yes, that's bad".
Matt Mann being Dave B's second, with a huge collision that left them both stunned. Mick (from the sidelines) spotted that Matt's pupils were like pinpricks, so he left the field.
Quite magical "around the body" dummy from Tim Thorne. Spectacular.
Barney running some quite pornographic lines, from, well everywhere.
Simon Debley playing like a man possessed (for the oppo).
And a huge effort from the front row of Cuss, Mike "babyface vet"Dean and Paul G for playing a full 80 of high speed rugby in the heat, and dominating the scrum all day.
Notable return from Alex Millard, who loved it, even the knee in the nuts moment.
And El Capitan Dan making 27 offloads. Which is remarkable not just because he achieved it, but that he was counting as well.
After the game, OBs narrowly lost the ski race, although there was some spillage to be seen on the visitors young flip-flop attired toes.
Fantastic game, and looking forward to the return fixture in Nov.