Without any substitutes, all fifteen Bishop players, some in unfamiliar positions, played the full match in a stiff wind and on a lush pitch that proved energy sapping.

The score line didn’t reflect our performance. Although we were a bit lightweight in the scrum, Owen, Freddie, Mackenzie, Thomas, Sam, Deacon, Jake and Cameron at no.8 fought for every ball put in by Logan. Our tackling was strong throughout, Luca, James, Finn, Kai and Archie all putting in notable stops, with equally hard tackles by the rest of the boys to halt Sunderland. We also had some excellent tactical plays – most notably a string of passes from Logan to Luca, Deacon and then Mackenzie that caught the eye as did the well-worked lineouts by Liam, then Owen and James towards the end that just fell short of the try-line.

These are the games that point the way to where we want to be. It also highlighted areas for development, such as making decisions on just when to kick forward, to pass or just run! A tough and very tiring lesson, but well done to our lads on the day for putting in maximum effort until the very end.

Thanks also to Sunderland for hosting and the post-match lunch – hot beef sandwiches followed by cake and custard!
We go again!