Moles winning run comes to an end

On a glorious day for rugby, the Moles schlepped it down Mexico way towards Kent's border with Surrey to take on Edenbridge Vets. Thanks must go out immediately to skipper Shotgun for saving his fellow Moles from DIY, shopping with the Missus at Bluewater and Italy versus Scotland, by pulling off this fixture after both the scheduled Maidstone Vets and then Beccehamians Vets were unable to fulfill the fixture.

With no Kent league fixtures being scheduled today, the Moles were pleased to welcome in Sam Holden, Matt Abbott, Aaron Rayner and Lee Evans from their usual Saturday gigs with the 3s, 4s and 5s as squad replacements for a number of Twickenham-bound Moleys including recent try machine Gerry Keenan and world class lunch-eating machine Russell Turley.

Edenbridge set the tone for the game right from the off when the scrum that was called following a Moley knock on from their kick off, was picked up by their scrum half (allegedly a former Harlequin no less) and ran in underneath the posts.

It took the Moles at least a further ten minutes and the concession of a few more points to wake up and start doing something positive with the ball. Some useful forward play with strong ball carrying from Big Bri, Elvis, Gareth Moore, Pierre, Neil Martin among others saw a lengthy period of possession deep into Edenbridge territory. However, the Edenbridge defence was solid (not least thanks to a very wily - suitably aged to be fair though - front row imported in for the afternoon from East Grinstead RFC) and ultimately a decision was taken for full back Brian Rayner to open the Moles' account for the day from a penalty kick.

The referee's front row and halfback briefing before kick off is always a good indicator of how the afternoon's proceedings may pan out and it is never a good sign when Sir can't remind everyone about the 'crouch, bind, set' cadence without bringing their own usually illustrious playing career. Usually, it is former props who look to drop in how many times they broke their own and others' necks due to a combination of 'dark arts', 'boring in', bad refereeing and disregard for safety....... blah blah blah. Unusually, today's 'Sir' was a former Scrum Half and his 'thing' was the ball being fed in straight at the scrum. A case of 'poacher turned game keeper' is never a good thing reader! Anyway, the Edenbridge supplied official's words seemed to have the effect of nothing less than a 'Jedi mind trick' on poor Moley scrum half Nod (incidentally our opponents' choice for man of the match - well done Jeff!), whose attempts to keep the ball straight through the mark appeared to result in him feeding the ball directly to their hooker on more than the odd occasion. But hey; how does the old cliche go? "No referee means no game". So, despite the odd frustration here and there, thanks go out to Sir for helping to keep the Moles away from DIY, or Nod from his 'No to Option C' pressure group activity, for the afternoon.

Frustration with refereeing decisions and young bucks including former professionals slipping with ease through the Moles defence was beginning to have an impact on some Moles' composure levels as a successful Edenbridge conversion brought the first half of proceedings to a close. The ensuing half-time team talk will surely go down in Moles' legend.

A clearly passionate and even perhaps slightly emotional Brian Rayner opined for every Mole to man up, stop whinging, get stuck in and play the Moles brand of committed rugby for the sake of the no doubt onlooking from somewhere, Mr Theobald. Brian's stirring Churchillian like words had the immediate effect of galvanizing the team and from the ensuing re-start for the second half, saw the Moles pick up a further 5 points.

Straight from the re-start, greater Moles effort in making tackles against young, fast Edenbridge runners ultimately led to our own young buck on for the second half at 10, Aaron Rayner, to make a great tackle that led to a turnover. A phase or two later and there was wing Adam 'Tucker' Jenken bursting for the line down the right line. Tucker looked set to back himself and score but unselfishly made a fantastic pass inside for Aaron to finish off the period of possession his tackle had instigated.

Aaron's introduction into proceedings cannot be underestimated as indeed nor can the involvement of Edenbridge's younger players. Aaron seemingly being everywhere on the pitch gave his teammates a huge boost and players worked hard to support his forays. Not least prop Elvis had one of his few sprints in any given season, to carry the ball some 30 metres or so deep into the Edenbridge half.
A phase or two later and the Moles were awarded a scrum in a dangerous position 15-20 metres from the try line out on the left . Despite the Edenbridge pack being the heavier and wilier all afternoon, the Moles kept working hard as a unit to remain competitive at scrum time. This scrum was one of the Moles' best of the afternoon and saw the ball quickly spread out wide through the hands to Aaron who saw a gap and promptly burst through it to take the Moles' points tally into double figures.

There weren't too many other notable playing highlight during the remainder of the game, but there were a lot of smiles over Moles faces having been reminded by Mr Rayner senior about what Moles' rugby is all about and putting that into full effect out on the pitch.

The return to Rectory Field in time for the second half of England's win against the Irish was followed by Brian Rayner donning yet another 'Mole of the match' t-shirt in recognition of the spirit his words injected back into the team. In his acceptance speech Brian reflected on how Gary would have been delighted with the second half performance and the looks on many faces indicated some relief at hearing that reassurance from a very respected Mole elder.

So, on reflection, although today was a bit of a caning scoreline wise; it was a positive milestone in the history of the 'Mole nation' and its citizens. The way every player responded in that second half performance was for the love of the Mole badge and their 'brothers'.

Proof once again reader, as if once again you ever needed it, that the Moles is something much much more than a just a rugby team!

Line up: Gareth Moore, Neil Martin, Sam Holden, Brian Rayner, Bomber, Lloydy, Tucker, Posty, Matt Abbott, Lee Evans, Big Bri, Velcro, Elvis, Nod, Aaron Rayner, Shotgun, Pierre, Ork