The joy of vets rugby is you're never quite sure how it will turn out on the day. The triple jeopardy of losing players to injuries from mild mid-week exercise, pesky kids and wives who really don't understand why you haven't grown out of rugby can leave a decent side in tatters come kickoff.

And sometimes it swings the other way. As skipper you spend your evenings sending about 20 individual messages a night to end up with a bare dozen, and then on the day lads who fancy a game suddenly pop up and before you know it, there's a strong unit of decent players assembled.

So it was on Saturday, OBs fielding a strong group - a first Vets outing for Greener-5-tries, and a welcome return for Ross Jennings. The heft of Chunk, Morgan, Wayner, Biggo and Watts meant the normally pretty dominant Kingswood pack were for once contained - allowing Sam to apply his craft with a twinkle in the eye even more cheerful than usual. Ferocious tackling also from Loz and Millard also contained the route-1 tactics Kingswood normally get a fair bit of return from.

And the pendulum of Greener in the middle made for a high-tempo start, which looked like it was going to be a rout, and possibly a few heart attacks until things calmed down a little (partly helped by Greener being subbed off).

Kingswood fought hard, but in open, broken play, OBs love running rugby (even Wayno showboating with a comical hitch-kick) and the returning Ross, Ted, Gareth and Hamblett were slinging the ball around with abandon. In truth for every moment of flair, an equal number of dropped balls and forward passes resulted, plus a comical Greener-Hambchop slow-motion collision moment. But the pressure in defence - helped by Peaches winging it out wide and him and Chris covering any breaks and kicks with nonchalance meant OBs could afford to be a little loose with it. Chris's several kick-dummies were a sight to behold.

Kingswood did enjoy a good 20 minute spell of sustained pressure on the OBs' line - returning with two good tries from hard angles and ferocious support. With OBs briefly down to 13 through injury it almost looked like a famous comeback was in the off, but then the game opened up again (and yes, Greener returned) which snuffed out the fightback. It laid the foundations for a couple of great OBs tries, including a 50 yard run from Chunk, who seemed hand or bounce off most of the oppo at some point in his wheeling pin-balling high-energy trundle. Final score was a fitting one, with a break from the 22, never-say-die cover tackles putting first me and then Greener down, before Morgs ran it in.

A game which showed fine grit and determination from Kingswood, as well as sportsmanship and good humour.
We wish them well on their tour to Exeter next week.

Big thanks also to Tinks who was magnificent with the whistle (and general commentary) and Dave Kay for photos.