By late morning on Sunday the Pink Day auction had raised close on £8000. The online auction was still active so the final total could well be more than this and thanks to the hundreds who turned up to watch Blues on Saturday. Nothing scientific in judging the numbers but it seemed to be the biggest crowd of the season and what a performance Blues put on, overturning the earlier season defeat at Keynsham, playing a style of rugby that was a joy to watch. Wickens suite was sold out for lunch and the first thanks must go to Louise and her team for providing excellent food in a very relaxing environment. The service was seamless and the quality of the food was right up there. At the end of the meal Dr Millard from Newbury Cancer Care and Meryl Praill MBE, founder and CEO of Newbury Soup Kitchen spoke about their organisations and this was a reminder of the great work these two charities do every day of the week to help those who need it most. The rugby club is proud to be able to support these two worthwhile organisations. That the day was made possible was due in no small measure to Robin Varley, whose tireless work attracting sponsors is crucial to the running of the club and we hope all our sponsors had a great day at Monks Lane on Saturday. Thank you for your continued support. Simon Best also deserves a thanks for his efforts in the run up to the day as well as on the day. Simon's enthusiasm is infectious and he enthuses people around him to want to help.

There are many more volunteers who were involved in ensuring the day was a success and thanks to them for the time they give to the club, not only on Pink Day but all season long. Volunteers are crucial to community clubs like ours and Stephen Jones who has recently retired as Chief Rugby Correspondent for the Sunday Times put it this way in his book Endless Winter published in 1993. "Rugby has a roll of honour of supremely dedicated amateur officials with which you could wallpaper the Pyramids. There are millions of the lovely little beaverers: club secretaries and treasurers and chairmen and boot blackeners and line markers and bottle washers, mini rugby coaches and tea ladies and tea men who vividly demonstrate their affection for the game and its ambience by spending every leisure minute in the exhausting process of providing the fitting backdrop for players at all levels to come out on the rugby field and play. They still do, these heroes. Every week." That is great writing. And if anybody would like to volunteer at the club, however much or little time you may have to give, please do make contact and experience that warm feeling of helping young men and women and boys and girls experience the joy of playing rugby with their mates with all the benefits this brings to them.

Before kick off there was a moment's silence for two long time members of the club who have recently passed. Derek Eggbeer was a life member who played when Blues were at Pinchington Lane and Father Pat Faughnan was a keen supporter of the club, attending many pre lunch matches and cheering on Blues for many years. Our thoughts go out to the friends and family of these two stalwarts of the club.

Blues in their traditional pink kit ran out and from the start looked like they were on it. It was interesting that within the first ten minutes or so Blues turned down the opportunity to go for the posts with three kickable penalties. The first penalty they opted for a scrum in the shadow of the Keynsham posts. Now that is a team with confidence in their pack of forwards, and why not, Blues scrum has been superb for much of the season. From the scrum it appeared that Ben Hurford John was in for the try but the referee pulled Blues back for a forward pass. The second penalty won soon afterwards was kicked to touch and Keynsham just managed to hold the ball up as Blues pack rumbled over the line. And then another penalty and another kick to touch in an attacking position. A great lineout take by player of the match Will Osborne resulted in the ball ending up in the hands of Harry Waye Branch who went over to score Blues first try of the game. The conversion by Dan Thorne put Blues 7-0 up after fifteen minutes. To pause for a second or so, it is worth commenting on the skill levels needed to execute a lineout the way Blues did for this first try. The throw was perfect, the timing of the lift was executed perfectly to enable Will to reach for the ball at the top of his jump and the transfer of the ball from Will to Sidney Adams at scrum half was clean and precise. It was great to watch and to see the successful end product of the work done at training week after week would have been very satisfying for all involved. From the restart Keynsham were awarded a penalty and kicked to touch to pressure Blues for the first time in the match. Some great work on the floor by the forwards resulted in Blues winning back the ball and a quite outstanding kick to touch by Kris Ford off his left foot relieved the pressure. Keynsham won the lineout but were caught offside at a ruck in midfield as they were attempting to run the ball. Chris Laidler put in a great kick to touch to secure another promising position for Blues. Another lineout win, another forwards rumble and another try, this time by Sam Bramhall, who had an outstanding game yet again both at the set piece and in his carrying and tackling. In fact the defensive effort was one of the many features that pleased James McAvoy who said, "the defence was brilliant - good decisions on one or two man tackles."

It was all looking good, but then Keynsham struck their first blow of the game and within five minutes they had scored their first try after what was their first period of sustained pressure. At 12-7 the visitors were well and truly back in the game but Blues edged away four minutes later when Harry Waye Branch, who seemed to be everywhere both in attack and defence, made a strong run through to score Blues third try. Harry's versatility is in evidence week on week and his acceleration is something that often catches defences out. And so it proved again, 19-7 Blues after Dan Thorne had kicked the conversion. Keynsham came back strongly and almost scored their second try, being denied by Michael Klichowicz just getting to the ball in time to touch down under Blues posts. As half time approached, Blues scored their bonus point try. The welcome return of Jonny Lees saw him run in to touch down. Another successful conversion by Dan Thorne put Blues up 26-7 at half time.

The sun continued to shine, the raffle tickets continued to sell and the second half kicked off with a feeling of optimism that this Blues team were looking good and had secured a platform from which they could go on and win the game. Admitedly there have been second half fight backs at all levels of the game but there was a feeling on Saturday even as the second half was starting that Blues were well in command of this game. There was still a lot of work to do though and Keynsham showed from the start of the half that they were going to fight as hard as possible to get back into the game. They immediately won a penalty and Blues had a defensive lineout to deal with. Even though Keynsham won the line out, Kris Ford was instrumental in winning a crucial turnover and then a penalty for Dan Thorne to put in a relieving kick to touch. Let's not underestimate these couple of phases of play. A Keynsham score right at the start of the half would have put them only 12 points adrift and with momentum and all that, who knows what might have happened. Ben Hurford John was then prominent in a couple of phases, taking a great catch off a high ball, winning a penalty after ghosting through the visitor's defence and then scoring a try after a skilful offload by Harry Waye Branch. The conversion by Dan Thorne made the score 33-7. Keynsham then had their best period of the match exerting a lot of pressure on Blues five or so metres out from Blues line. They attacked four times but four times they were thwarted by a superb defensive set by all fifteen Blues players. The end of the attack came when Blues stole the ball after Keynsham took a tapped penalty and when Blues relieved the pressure with about six or seven minutes to go there was a distinct feeling that was the match. There was still time however for two more tries, one for each side. The first was scored by Will Osborne who went over after a quick tapped penalty and then a few minutes later Keynsham scored their second try of the game to take the final score to 38-14 to Blues.

Many thanks to the Keynsham players, coaches and supporters and we wish you all the best for the remainder of the campaign and if the RFU decides to not rearrange the leagues again we look forward to our games next season. Thanks also to Hampshire Society referee Matt Edwards.

So the winning Pink Day record continues, that's 11 Pink Day wins out of 11 and well done to all eighteen players who provided great entertainment for the hundreds of supporters who turned up on Saturday. Seven players made their Pink Day debuts and all had a positive impact on the game, Sam Bramhall, Sidney Adams, Beau Power, Ben Hurford John, Dan Sanders, Joe Davis and Chris Laidler. The final whistle went, the brass band had long finished playing but more music started in Kickers and the club was full and noisy for quite some time after the game. Great stuff. Lots of happy players, lots of happy supporters all belting out Sweet Caroline, Country Roads, Living Next Door to Alice and many others and as the late afternoon turned into evening the dancing continued, the shots began to appear and the chat got a little less coherent. But crucially the money continued to roll in for our two worthy charities. Long may Pink Day continue.