There are two photos that resonate from the weekend, the first on the front cover of the programme, a picture of two generations of Futchers, Mick and his son Jamie, the other on the club website, a picture of three generations of Futchers, Mick and Jamie being joined by Mick's granddaughter Mia. These show the strength of family and community associated with rugby clubs and we are right up there with any in the country. Mick has rightly received many accolades and having worked closely with him for a number of years at the club I know just how much effort he has put into his managerial role. The highlight of the day for him apart from the result and on field presentations? Being presented with a shirt signed by the players in the privacy of the dressing room at the end of the game with their warm messages of thanks and best wishes and then later in Kickers Bar one of the senior players coming up to him and saying that Mick has been the one constant presence in all the years this player has been playing at the club. Young men expressing feelings and emotions, what's not to love. Thanks for all your hard work Mick. There were other notable celebrations on Saturday and congratulations to Toby Thorne and Josh Winfield on achieving 202 and 200 Blues caps respectively. This is an outstanding achievement and to be acknowledged publicly at the end of the game is a great tradition.

Veo, which records the game for coaches and players to analyse, will clearly show the number of kickable penalties Witney refused to take, preferring to go for the corner, line out drive to go for a try. It was a tactic that didn't pay off and it was only in the dying minutes of the game the visitors scored from such a play. Too little, too late. That they were thwarted on a number of occasions was down to the magnificent maul defence of Blues forwards. Just two of those penalties successfully converted would have probably given Witney a victory and it is difficult sometimes to understand why teams don't take the three points on offer. Compare this with Dan Thorne's decision on 75 minutes. Blues ahead 15-8, a bit under the cosh, awarded a penalty and a successful kick at goal takes the score to 18-8. Great game management. Ten points adrift with five minutes remaining. Whatever level of rugby, this is difficult to come back from and even with that late try, Witney were second best on the day and well done to Blues players. Defeat by 40 points at Witney earlier in the season made this victory all the more satisfying

Props don't often score tries and when he was substituted later in the game George Robinson Slater asked if I could spin the yardage he ran for his third minute try. In essence it was all of about one and half giant steps but he was on hand to touch down after some good approach work by Jack Rampton and Toby Thorne. Well done GRS. Seven nil up within the first five minutes of the game is not a bad start and exactly what Blues needed. Witney were stung into action and for the next phase of the game they exerted significant pressure, winning three kickable penalties but opting to go for the corner and maul their way over. In retrospect they might well have chosen different options but they backed themselves. Unfortunately for the visitors Blues maul and scramble defence was excellent and Witney were forced into knocking the ball on within five metres of Blues line. Player of the match Alex Du Sautoy and Dylan Stewart were prominent in repelling wave after wave of Witney attacks and when Josh Winfield and Duncan Craigen made superb runs through the heart of the Witney defence all of a sudden Blues had an excellent attacking position. A quick tapped penalty later and some fine handling from the backs enabled Michael Klichovicz to deliver an outstanding final pass to Jamie Futcher who ran in Blues second try. Twelve nil, fifteen minutes in and all looking good. The match then became a bit tasty, a couple of yellow cards were given out and Witney had a very kickable penalty overturned for talking back to the referee. And then a repeat of what had happened earlier in the half with Witney exerting significant pressure, Blues giving away a number of penalties and Witney opting to kick to touch and rumble over. It was clear that Blues had done a lot of work on maul defence for situations close to their line and when the half time whistle went, Witney had nothing to show in terms of points in spite of the time they had spent in Blues twenty two.
Half Time Blues 12-0 ahead.

The second half started with Blues again giving away a number of penalties and fortunately for Blues a crooked Witney throw into the lineout enabled Blues to relieve some of the pressure. The scrum was holding up well under pressure from some big men and as usual GRS, Ben Hicks and the rest of the pack put in a great effort to ensure Blues continued to secure scrum ball and with the half back partnership of Toby and Dan Thorne functioning really well Blues knew they were always in with a very good chance of coming out on top. Ten minutes into the second half Blues disrupted a Witney lineout and the visitors gave away a penalty. No hesitation, Dan Thorne opted to kick for goal and at 15-0 Blues were now more than two scores ahead. Blues then gave away another three penalties and from the third of these the visitors decided to kick for goal. Their opening points, an hour into the game. That is how good Blues defence had been and it wasn't only the tackling, it was kick defence as well and the welcome return from a long injury of Tom Cole ensured Blues had an extra kicking option which they utilised very well. As the game moved into the final ten minutes or so, Witney scored their first try of the game to take the score to 15-8. Almost immediately, however, the visitors gave away a penalty and from long range, Dan Thorne converted the kick to restore Blues ten point lead. With Blues backs overall width and ball movement evident, they were able to "control the edge" which is something Head Coach James McAvoy has been working on for some time. Having to now chase the game some of Witney's play became rather frenetic but they were rewarded with another couple of penalties. They worked their way upfield with the resulting lineouts and from the second of these, they managed to rumble over from five metres out to make the score 18-13 going into injury time. Soon after the referee blew the final whistle on a victory which ensured Blues will play at the same level next season.

Well done and thank you to all eighteen players who gave their all for the team in what was a very physical encounter. One league game left, away at Reading on April 6th. Also on that day Stags will entertain Crowthorne in their last game of the season and they will be hoping to continue the fine form they showed last week against local rivals Thatcham. Before that, though, there is one important match and that is the annual Memorial Match at Hungerford on Good Friday in memory of Hungerford player Lyle Crawford who tragically and sadly lost his life in a faming accident a number of years ago. Always a great social occasion, make sure you turn up thirsty and hungry. Lots of great food, lots of great drinks and most importantly lots of great hospitality on offer throughout the afternoon.

Many thanks to everyone who turned out for the game on the weekend, many thanks to those who booked a table for lunch with family and friends, many thanks to all our sponsors, many thanks to referee Crispin Davies and many thanks to the Witney players and supporters. We look forward to seeing you next season.

Brian Lee