The Sun was out, the Sky was blue, there wasn’t a Crowd to spoil the view or something like that. Not strictly true as it was Kris’s birthday on Friday and he secured tickets for his entourage, indeed his groupies outnumbered the stray dogs watching the game.

After the rain of the last few months the pitch was bound to be heavy, so the only saving grace being no game on the pitch last week. It stood to reason the game was going to be forward orientated and so it proofed. Playing against Broughton Park you’re never actually sure what kind of side you’ll be up against and looking at the opposition before the game, they looked a lot stronger than the side we beat earlier in the season. The Ducks yesterday fielded what on paper at least looked like one of the strongest sides we’ve had out all season.

Early signs were ominous when in the first minute Broughton Parks inside centre sat Chrissy Mc on his backside in the tackle “I wasn’t expecting it, we had the ball” was the comment from our nimble footed speedster. That moment however was probably the high point of the game as far as the opposition was concerned.

From as early as the third minute, the lads took complete control of the game, a try from Stuie Costello followed by one from Netball and another from Stuie on twenty five minutes were just reward for our complete domination. Now as we all know D.M.T. (During Match Tension) can strike a man any time during the month and when 13 out of 15 are suffering at the same time it can have a devastating effect.

Two judo throws by Broughton Parks hooker whilst gripping your neck can make anyone tetchy and so it proofed, a few handbags later, a few words out of place and all the good work of earlier is undone as we gift BP one of Kris birthday presents. Boys stop the bitching at each other and play the game. 17 - 7 game on?

For the next 45 minutes the Ducks showed what we can do when we want to play 43 unanswered points and the only time we let BP in our half was from the restart. A try from Petto carrying two men on his back over the tryline, another one each for Netball and Petto, one from debutant Jamie, two more from Stuie and then Captain Kris celebrating his birthday with a try in the last minute. Benny the Boot converted five, hit the post twice and shaved the outside with another. 60 - 7 and a fair reflection of the game.

Two debutants yesterday, Jamie up from London for Skips birthday and James Worrall whose first contribution was to sit his opposite number on his backside and then apart from two great kicks spent the rest of the game running dummy lines to put his team-mates in space. Gilly having a full 80 minutes after his outings with the 1st team was sharp, Oatesy had his best game in a while, young Tyler had his opposite number struggling at scrum time and was great in the loose. Hastey the Ashes was back to great effect, Evo did what Evo does best, winning line out ball and leading from the front, Eddie the Arrows Brown had a strong game.

As I said earlier it was a forwards game yesterday and the lads were dominant. My personal highlight yesterday, the Speedster that is Chrissy Mc hits a peach of a line just off the side of the ruck, dances into the opposition twenty two, makes 10 or 12 metres and gets tackled but because of his pace his team-mates can’t keep up and he gets turned over, it was a pity because the line he ran deserved a try.

Duck of the Day could only have one recipient yesterday, four trys and a great all around performance, Stuie Costello you’re the Duck.
Diffy Duck went to Chrissy Mc for his first minute faux pas, indeed with the excuse he gave it could be argued he actually must have played all the rest of the game with concussion.

No game next week, so the Ducks founding Fathers have booked an excursion to Rome to watch England and who can blame them, Tom, Martyn and Matt enjoy it.

Cueilles du Canards
Mother Duck.