Saturday April 5th, our own, our very own, "Super Saturday." The game none of us wanted, the situation none of us wanted, but it's coming and for those who enjoy sporting jeopardy, look no further than this date. I've always been in favour of promotion and relegation and rather haughtily bemoan the fact the RFU makes it very difficult for Championship teams to be promoted to the Premiership, but when it comes nearer home, I'm almost inclined to say, "ring fence Regional 2 South Central." But not quite. There are all sorts of permutations at the bottom of the table. North Dorset have to travel to Petersfield, and who knows, Andover might do something special to beat Guildford. But, whatever the outcome of these matches, avoiding relegation is still in our hands and with Wickens sold out for lunch tables and a big crowd Blues will not be lacking for support.

As for Saturday's game, Blues gave it their all but the strength of the home team enabled them to run in six tries. There were, however, some creditable performances. Player of the match Will Osborne showed again his versatility, winning lineout ball and being able to play centre, Harry Waye Branch showed how well developed his defensive contact skills are, Jamie Futcher slotted in well at scrum half after an injury to Patch Anderson in the third minute, Kyle Doel continued his very good form with a number of effective carries, Dan Thorne showed great resilience particularly after suffering a head cut early in the match, Jacob Checksfield made good ground with his chip and chasing, Sean Siggerman made his debut appearance and GRS, coming on as a replacement, stabilised the scrum after a very dominant start by the Petersfield forwards. The 40-12 scoreline would have been a lot grimmer had it not been for some great defence by Blues on their own try line, holding up the ball to deny the home side at least two more tries.

It couldn't have been a worse start for Blues. A break down the left and a chip forward by Patch Anderson put Petersfield under pressure almost from the kick off, but in the move Patch suffered his injury and was forced off. This resulted in Josh Twigger coming on to the wing, Jamie Futcher moving to scrum half and Jacob Checksfield taking up position at full back. It was an interesting first ten minutes, Petersfield dominating the scrum, their backs looking strong but they could not get out of their half and this was down to the collective defensive will of Blues. Harry Waye Branch made two crucial turnovers during this period, Kyle Doel, under enormous pressure at the back of retreating scrums did what all good number 8's do and picked up the ball and made a metre or two of ground and Dan Thorne's touch kicking from open play and penalties continued to give Blues some relief from the attacking threats of the home team. It was no surprise that Petersfield's first try of the game came from a scrum turnover and on sixteen minutes they took a 7-0 lead. Seven minutes later Blues went further behind. This was an interesting try, with a certain confusion about whether some of the key Petersfield players were offside or not. Captain Dan Thorne queried the decision but with no TMO around the try stood. A second successful conversion made the score 14-0. Who'd be a referee? And then a period where Blues showed they were an attacking threat. A great jinking run by HWB was carried on by Kyle Doel. The attacking scrum that followed resulted in Blues forwards moving forward for Callum Varrall to touch down for Blues first try on the half hour mark. At 14 -5 Blues were back in the game. However the home side steadied a little and it was them who scored next, a scrum penalty leading to a kick to touch and from there the forwards mauled their way over from 5 metres to make the half time score 21-5.

For all the dominance suggested by the scoreline, the first 30 minutes or so of the second half saw neither team scoring. It seemed a lot of the play was around the half way line although Petersfield did make a few forays into Blues 22 and it took a monumental defensive effort to hold the home side up over the line on two occasions to save tries and on another occasion Blues won a penalty on their own try line for Dan Thorne to relieve the pressure. Sean Siggerman then made a great run out of defence after some crisp handling by the backs. It was noticeable that Blues wanted to keep the tempo of the game up as much as possible and they ran a number of penalties rather than kick to touch. This also meant the Petersfield forwards had less chance to disrupt Blues line out. With ten minutes remaining Petersfield attacked strongly which resulted in their bonus point try and at 28-5 the game seemed almost wrapped up and any doubt about the outcome was dissipated in the next few minutes when Petersfield scored two more tries. There was to be one more score before the final whistle, a consolation try scored by Jamal Watson after some good approach work by the forwards. The whistle went, the home side celebrated on their 40-12 win and the thoughts of Blues supporters turned to early April.

As always thanks to the players for battling to the end, thanks to the loyal band of travelling support who made the journey and thanks to Petersfield RFC for providing hospitality for our President and his guests. And so, here we go. Nervousness yes, but excitement as well. The challenge is clear and all we can do on our side of the touchline is get behind the boys and give them as much encouragement and support as we can and let's hope at 4.45 or thereabouts on 5th April it won't only be the end of "Super Saturday" it will be the end of a super "Super Saturday."

COYB