Sporting fightbacks. Too many to mention, but everyone will have memories of at least one of these, some that end with a win, some that don't. One of the most thrilling matches in last year's Premiership was Harlequins v Bath at the Stoop. Harlequins 40-3 up on 50 minutes, Bath out of it. But then a glorious period for Bath who brought the score back to 40-36 going into the final five minutes. Glorious fight back but it was not quite enough. Bath players and supporters deflated and that was the feeling for Blues at full time on Saturday. As one of the players said at the end of the match whilst chatting on the touchline, "We should have won that." Sporting what ifs. What if we had held on to that last pass, what if we had moved the ball wide a bit earlier, what if we had used that overlap. After the final whistle there is nothing that can be done with decisions made, but what can be done is to go again next weekend, to give it a blasting again, to go through the processes James and his coaching team have put in place and see what happens. Andover away, short journey and hopefully a big turnout of supporters to cheer on this group of players who gave it their all for our club on Saturday, as they do every minute of every game, and hopefully come away with a win.

The one thing they will be desperate to avoid, however, is falling behind by 24 points before opening their account as happened on Saturday. Wimborne had secured their try bonus point five minutes into the second half, after a first half that saw them exert a great deal of pressure through their big pack of forwards. One out runners gained a lot of ground for the visitors and although there were glimmers for Blues, with some effective approach play they couldn't quite get over the line. The game opened with Blues exerting good pressure and from the kick off Wimborne were forced into knocking the ball on and soon after, more pressure resulted in Blues being awarded a penalty which just went wide. Wimborne then secured their first attacking foothold with a 50/22. If this kick to touch was a great piece of play from the visitors, so was the next play, this time from Blues, when they turned over the ball to allow an efficient exit. It was not long though before Wimborne started another attack from their own half. One dummy from their number ten and one missed tackle later and Blues were five points down. Immediately the visitors launched another attack and would have scored their second try had they not dropped the ball with the try line in sight. And they kept on coming, making use of a couple of high kicks, which were dealt with very well by Blues back three along with some great scramble defence. It almost seemed inevitable though that another score was about to come and on the half hour mark Wimborne went up 12-0 with their second try. Blues then had a period where they were on the attack and like Wimborne a few minutes earlier, a knock on as Blues were about to score was a disappointing finish to some very good approach play. Frustration all round and the referee had to speak to both captains after some testy moments. Wimborne then scored their third try through their forwards making good ground close in, narrowing Blues defence and scoring out wide. Half time whistle Blues nil, Wimborne seventeen.

Five minutes into the second half things looked bleaker for Blues when Wimborne made use of their forwards to rumble over for their bonus point try to make the score 24-0 to the visitors. And then the fightback. Forcing a penalty, Blues kicked to touch and from the ensuing line out Harry Bate, making a welcome return to Blues colours and showing what a very good player he is, went over to open the scoring for the home side. Even though Blues were still 19 points adrift there was a feeling that the momentum was slowly shifting in Blues direction and all of a sudden there was optimism amongst Blues supporters and this was well founded as Blues scored their second try soon after, Oli Rhoads going over after some good work by the forwards. The successful conversion by Dan Thorne reduced the deficit to twelve points and at 12-24 Wimborne knew they were in a proper fight. The visitors kept on making mistakes, Blues kept up the pressure and a series of attacks resulted in Kyle Doel scoring from a tapped penalty five metres from the Wimborne line. A second successful conversion by Dan Thorne made the score 19-24 to Wimborne and with ten minutes still to play and all the momentum with Blues the players felt the match was there for the taking. But just as the momentum had swung in Blues favour some thirty minutes previously, so Wimborne began to win a little more ball and gain a little more field position to relieve the pressure they had been under for much for much of the second half. Why, how, who knows, it just happens sometimes and may be down to a lucky bounce of the ball a refereeing decision which goes in your favour, a turnover which galvanises a team or whatever. As it was Wimborne broke out and almost scored their fifth try but Blues defence held firm and then produced a series of attacks themselves, setting up a couple of opportunities to score but just being held out. As the game went into the final three minutes Wimborne got hold of the ball and did what they had done well on a number of occasions, keeping the ball close, rumbling up the side of a series of rucks, not letting Blues get anywhere near the ball and then inexplicably they went a little bit wider and knocked it on giving Blues one last chance going into the final play of the game. Their captain was not amused. The scrum was won and Blues went on the attack for one last time but gave away a penalty at the final breakdown and a relieved Wimborne kicked the ball dead. Final score Blues 19, Wimborne 24.

Frustration, yes. Disappointment, yes. Grounds for optimism, yes. Two matches played, three bonus points secured and if Blues can consistently play as they did for the first half hour of the second half victories will come. There were positives and amongst these was the way Alec McCormack helped ignite the attack with Dan Thorne, some excellent defending and some great power and pace in attack. There were debut performances for Harry Cooper, making the transition to Senior rugby from Colts, Fynn Smail and Fergus Walker. Well done to all debutants. There is one other who made his debut at Chichester last weekend, new Blues Manager Kevin Rhoads. This is a vital position and a lot of the work goes unseen. I know Kevin has already put in a great deal of effort and will continue to do so as the season progresses. Thank you for stepping up to undertake this role Kevin. Kevin is ably supported by his wife Sarah whose work was evident on Saturday in Kickers Bar pre match when the players' names and photos were on a loop on the television screens. This is a great innovation, so thank you Sarah for this and for developing a social media presence on Facebook and Instagram showing the players in a slightly different light.

A shout out also to the Stags who played their first game of the season away at Hungerford, losing narrowly 19-20. Next week Stags play at home against Rams III, whist Blues travel to Andover. As always a huge thanks to all our sponsors and to Robin Varley for the work he continues to do in attracting sponsorship for the club. This is a vital revenue stream. Thanks also to Louise and her team of caterers and front of house. To prepare pre match lunch and then players meals some 90 minutes later is no small feat. Referees don't have always have it easy and the number of times each week the coaches and supporters of one team see things differently from those of the opposition team does not make their job any easier so thanks to Craig Johnson for keeping the lid on proceedings when it was threatening to "kick off." The fact it didn't was down largely to Craig's confident decision making, ignoring the "advice" from the touchline and sometimes facing the ire of all around him. And finally thanks to all Blues supporters who turned up to watch the game. The players are always very appreciative of the support and it does make a difference. Here's to next Saturday.