"It was a bright, cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen." The opening lines of George Orwell's dystopian novel 1984 which heralded a strange world. Whilst the world at Monks Lane on Saturday was not quite as strange as Orwell depicts, the game against Longlevens was in some ways a bit strange. Blues dominant scrum, great team cohesion and interaction between forwards and backs, a lineout that functioned well, some excellent passages of play from Blues, some outstanding individual moments, not a huge amount of field position secured by Longlevens, yet at the final whistle a loss by 31-43. In his post match analysis, James McvAvoy identified areas to work on, such as, "our defence of launch plays to try and stop teams in the first three phases. Whilst there was very good team cohesion, good link up and good interaction between forwards and backs, (there were too many) individual errors such as catch/pass and missed tackles." After last season's two games it was always going to be a tight affair and the result is distorted a little with Longlevens scoring their sixth try in the final phase of the game when Blues were having to go from their own twenty two to score a converted try to secure the draw. We see this quite often at all levels, when teams push hard in the final moments of a game they are chasing, make a mistake and the opposition scores. Post match chat in Kickers was split, some saying we should have kicked the ball out in the final phase to secure two losing bonus points, others applauding the team for showing positivity in going for the draw. And as we all know rugby is an easy game to play whilst watching from beyond the touch line.

From the kick off Jamie Futcher put in a good challenge in the air, debutant Hugo Dessiaume made an outstanding tackle tracking back to stop what might have been the opening try and Blues were awarded a scrum, and what a start for the forwards. Debutant prop Alivereti Vitokai, debutant hooker Kapeteni Filipe and Sam Bramhall put huge pressure on the Longlevens scrum in what turned out to be a fantastic afternoon for all three along with the other forwards in the tight battles. With such a positive opening five minutes or so it was a great shame to see Jonny Lees go off with an injury within ten minutes of the start. I know all supporters will want to wish him all the best for his recovery. Jonny was replaced by Duncan Craigen who added ballast to a scrum that was already in the ascendency. A few moments later Longlevens scored their first try through the middle courtesy of their strong running centres. The conversion was successful and after twelve minutes Blues were down by seven points. From the restart, another Longlevens knock on, another scrum and it required solid defending by the opposition to stop Blues scoring from this position. It didn't take long though for Blues to get on the scoreboard. From a lineout near the Longlevens line Alivereti Vitokai fed Chris Laidler who went over under the posts. Chris converted his own try to bring the scores back level. Despite the scrum dominance Blues were finding it difficult to secure a strong attacking position and almost immediately Longlevens scored their second and third tries to take a 21-7 lead on the half hour mark. Blues then began to gain a foothold in the opposition half and as half time approached scored two tries of their own, the first of these from Duncan Craigen, converted by Chris Laidler, the second by Dave Few. This cut the arrears to two points and it was a shame that on the stroke of half time a richochet in the scrum led to Longlevens securing the ball and scoring their bonus point try. Half time 28-19 to the visitors.

The second half started well for Blues with the team exerting significant pressure on the visitors which resulted in a penalty try for a high tackle and it now became a two point game with a try bonus point secured by Blues. With Longlevens reduced to fourteen players due to a yellow card associated with the penalty try, there was expectation Blues could go on and score again. But as in the first half, Longlevens immediately hit back. They successfully got the ball away from a retreating scrum and scored through the middle to extend their lead to 35-26. The next ten minutes or so saw the visitors give away a number of penalties. Blues opted to scrummage from one of these, got the ball into space for Jamie Futcher to score out wide and again Blues had more than a foothold in the game, only four points adrift. The game was entering the final quarter and for the first time in the half Longlevens started putting pressure on Blues line from close in, winning a few penalties themselves. From one of these they attempted to maul their way over but Blues held them up and made an effective exit from the resulting scrum. However back came the visitors, winning another kickable penalty and deciding to kick for goal to extend their lead to seven points. At around this time George Weston came on to make his debut and made an immediate impression with a strong run and a great tackle. From here, Longlevens went on the attack but Will Osborne collected a loose ball and made a strong run out of defence to half way. The move continued and Dan Thorne almost went over but the Longlevens scramble defence just held firm. Blues gave away a penalty which led to Longlevens setting up in Blues twenty two. However in the last phase of the game Blues secured the ball deep in their half, tried to run out of defence but a mistake gifted the ball to Longlevens who went over for their final try of the game. The final whistle sounded with the score 43-31 to the visitors.

So there we go, summer over, the long wait for the start of the season completed and whilst this was not the result we were hoping for there is a lot to be positive about, including the way the co captains led the team, the impact the replacements made when they came on, the spirit shown by the whole squad and the way all four debutants played. In the front row Kapeteni Filipe and Alivereti Vitokai had significant games, Hugo Dessiaume showed great skill and commitment, has huge potential and George Weston had a strong game when he came off the bench. Well done to them and indeed to all the squad.

In the traditional player of the match stuff that went on in Kickers after the game Dan Thorne was nominated Blues player of the match by Longlevens and in his speech the visiting captain referred to one of his committee men falling or tumbling down the North Bank. He put it down to the hospitality being too good at lunch. Congratulations to Longlevens and we look forward to our visit to you later this season. Thank you to everyone who turned up to watch on Saturday, to the catering and bar team, to all our sponsors, to referee Dave Elliott, to the coaches and managers but mostly to the players. Next week Blues travel to Marlborough to renew the on field rivalry with our near neighbours.

And whist Orwell's classic masterpiece depicts a future devoid of hope, that is certainly not the case at Monks Lane. There is so much to look forward to over the coming season. Great games to watch, great lunches to be had, great music after some matches, Christmas festivities, Pink Day, hopefully coaches to some away matches, meeting up with friends, making new friends, getting involved in touch or walking rugby if you don't fancy the rough stuff and as always there are volunteering opportunities galore at the club. Who needs summer anyway.