As is often the case the scoreline did not reflect the difference between the two teams.
EppCroft had 17 players available for KO, and with only two of the regular front row available Kaiyan joined Lenny and Connor. Jack moved into to the second row (first time he has played this position) and Lukas moved to No 8, another first.

The game started with R&G kicking off, and with the ball not collected cleanly by EppCroft, R&G were quickly on the front foot. Early capitulation was a definite possibility but the EppCroft not only stood up to the challenge but had R&G on the back foot with fantastic line speed.

After about 10 minutes R&G one a penalty, and elected to go for the posts, this was no doubt in part to the stalwart defence already shown and they were not confident enough to kick to the corner.

Some great rugby both in defence and attack led to EppCroft crossing the line next (Oliver) and the conversion was successful (Kaiyan) making the score 3-7.

As the half wore on then there was a drop in the line speed exhibited by Eppcroft and this allowed R&G back into the game, they score 4 tries (none converted) to make the ½ time score 23-7. Certainly not insurmountable.

R&G had the luxury of a full bench whereas EppCroft only had two substitutes to bring on, at 9 Freddie went off and Joe E-N came on, and a little latter Danny came off from the wing and Connor Ox replaced him.

There were good passages of play, EppCroft were attacking on the 5m line when R&G managed a turn over and their winger galloped the length of the pitch to open their second ½ account.

There was more nice play by EppCroft and they started to spread the ball more, you could see some of the moves that have been practised in training being developed, and it was with only 15 minutes to go that R&G scored their second of the second ½. Eppcroft did cross with line again from a quick tap penalty but unfortunately due to an injured player the referee brought the play back.

Two late tries by R&G put a gloss to the scoreline, but the match and teams were much closer than that. R&G are in the league above EppCroft and played well and exploited the spaces that they saw better than EppCroft and deserved the win, however this new EppCroft team which is still very much in development showed some very good rugby, just not sustained for long enough, but this will come as the season progresses.