It was on the water drenched fields of sham that a closely fought rugby battle took place between a 3rd place and high scoring A&C and a surprisingly 10th place Brentwood XV. We all know that the wind and rain can be a leveller and very soon after kick off it was clear that the match would be won or lost in the small margins.

With a wee bit of a clash of claret it was time for A&C to don the famous gold tops. Spandau Ballet was top of the pre-match playlist with and amazingly some of the Chiltern Youth not having heard of them before. We also had a new experience of welcoming Charlie Doyle to the bench and seeing him literally squeeze into some 2 X extra-large shorts. Dutifully a pair of 4 X extra-large shorts have been ordered never ever seen before at A&C owing to our pack motto ‘smaller, faster, mobile’. More of Charlie later.

So with the heavens well and truly open dribbling and passing a gusty breeze we started the match saturated. I was just glad we had Noah Jarvis at Centre in case of the need for sudden Ark building and pairing up. Amersham kick off and playing away from the club house wind and rain on our backs. It wasn’t long until A&C were applying pressure on the Brentwood defence with a twinkle toed Doug MacGregor- Smith and hop, skip and a jump diving over for an unconverted try (5 – 0).

With Brentwood now having stretched off their legs for their long drives (no Coach) there was quite a strong fight back in response. Again the formidable A&C defence was in ‘hunt’ mode and it was only through a couple of penalties and some A&C yellow card naughtiness (no names mentioned to protect their identity) that Brentwood responded and took a single point lead (5-6) . H/T was then whistled with both teams seeking temporary refuge in their respective changing rooms.

And do so the second half with a pitch beginning to soften and squelch. Again the ball was kept in the forwards hands. Not quite stuck up their jumpers, but rarely passed out to speedsters hunting for try glory. Until though the 60th minute and A&C at last unleashing their backs and showing some fine linking and support with their forwards. The finish and from the Brentwood 22 it was Ollie Choules bobbing and weaving through what had been a resilient Brentwood defence to touch down in front of a row of very damp spectators. Although damp they could certainly cheer especially as Ollie himself converted his own efforts (12 -6).

With some decent momentum and an energised pack everyone hoped it would now be a matter of extending or even just closing down on our lead. Brentwood had other ideas and after a sustained period of pressure it was one of the biggest front rows I’ve ever seen that managed to roll himself over the A&C line for a converted try (12-13). Still though 6 mins to play.

And yes it was to be! A&C opportunities by way of penalty after sustained attacking and a decision either to kick to the corner or kick for goal? Step forward Noah Jarvis. Excellent kicking stats and a calmness extraordinaire. He is the man for that pressure moment – surely. A kick to win! Alas a slip under foot and a miss well to the left. 2 mins max left and kick out by Brentwood prior to the final whistle.

A relieved Brentwood single point victors and a golden A&C side feeling an opportunity was lost to climb further up the table.

Regardless away to the big city of London and Belsize Park in a couple of weeks after 2 weeks of rest Consolidation in 4th after round 5 of matches. With Charlie Doyle also being a 4 X large short wearer in our pack everyday will be Gold no matter what colour strip we wear