A strong Finchley side came to Downhills to dominate up front and came out of the gates hard. Big runs were met with equally big hits but Finsbury were put on the back foot initially giving away a couple of penalties which lead to a Finchley kick for goal directly in front of the posts. 0-3

A deep restart forced the kick to touch and a good Fins lineout was worked into the Finchley 22. A storming run from Harry McKay burst through 2 Finchley players but was brought down by a high tackle and bad head collision.
Kicks his own pen and takes himself off the pitch. 3-3

Finsbury Park hero / legend / traitor Jon Startin scores in the corner for them. Let’s not talk about it. 3-8

Another good Fins lineout and maul drove the final 7 metres to the Finchley line. The sidelines revelled in the cries from captain Urban “We’re there. It’s over. Down. Down.” Dutifully, prop Shrek downed the ball on the line. Which the referee decided was short of the line and gave a scrum to Finchley. Your biased reporter shall continue to believe his prop, but the stats sheets won’t show that try.

While I was making a water bottle refill run Victor scored. The substitute-coach-reporter-waterboy crossover is hard. Nevertheless I’m sure Victor was excellent. 8-8

Physical play defined a lot of the 1st half, with a lot of back and forth between the 22s. Eventually Finsbury conceded a penalty in the middle of the pitch on their 10 metre line.

You know a penalty on your 10 metre line at top flight rugby is always a concession of 3 points. Not so in merit table 2. Except against Finchley’s 10. Finchley kick for 8-11.

At this point your reporter would like to note the Finchley 10 was quite good, an opinion corroborated by possibly concussed Harry Mckay, however always (always) followed by the phrase “but not as good as he thinks he is.” Mr Mckay was rewarded for his tenacious downplay of his opponent’s skills when the Finchley 10 sliced a kick straight up and back leading to all their players being offside, a Finsbury penalty and Pete Murray capitalised on a textbook lineout - maul - try. It’s becoming something of a staple and I am here for it. 13-11

From the restart Finsbury fought their way out of their 22. A lovely show and go by Freddie Bromley made 2 yards (that counts as a sprint on his tracker I’m sure), but a Finchley turnover led to pressure mounting on pressure. James Pattison made a quality try saving tackle 10 yards out, but eventually a missed tackle in the centre put them through under the posts. 13-18

Finchley knocked-on from the restart, giving us the scrum, which we dominated against a bigger pack. Incredible phases came through from the forwards, every bit of time put into getting into pods on the training field paid off. Fras’ lovely line break led to a ruck on the Finchley 2m. Shrek decided the pick and go to score wasn’t for him and instead knocked on.

Bit messy from Fins. They score. 13-25.

Finchley continued with some nice running. Jon Startin again showed his class with a 50 yard run (40 of them sideways), then a lovely step ending with a pass inside to give Finchley a very dangerous run at a broken Fins line. Stalwart Bromley put a huge hit in on some poor back sending him flying backwards to stop Finchley momentum entirely.

Inspired by this (...probably?) Finsbury put together some neat phases off a lineout in their 22. Try Shrek 18-25.

Lineout on the Finchley 10. Finsbury ball came down to Pete. Neck tackle but the ref ignored it. Red 1 from Max to Mitch. Also a high tackle but this ref does not care about the safety of my players. Nevertheless, a really quick ruck got the ball out and down the line. Will, Aslan and Freddie each with gorgeous little half breaks to put Philos over in the corner. 23-25.

There were 5 minutes remaining and Finsbury were playing with gusto. They knew they deserved this win, but they were 2 points behind. In, they came to the Finchley 22, over and over. And that pressure started mounting on a young Ronan Heekin. His older brother was propping for Finsbury Park. His older brother had scored. But maybe, just maybe, he could be the hero of the day. He flew into a ruck against Finsbury captain Urban and gave a penalty to Finsbury 22 metres out and directly in front of the posts. Our hero.

Gilliam to kick for the win. It’s Wilkinson for the world cup 2003 all over again. He slots it over without a care in the world. This man does not feel pressure. 26-25. 2 minutes left.

Finchley kick and Finsbury catch. Fins hold the ball. Phases. Rucks. In our 22, just hold the ball. Is that time sir? The longest 2 minutes of rucking your reporter has ever seen. That must be time sir. Kick to touch. Whistle. Win.

Special thanks to Shrek for coming down to cover a late drop out and for making sure his brother played so we could win.

Tries: Victor, Pete, Shrek, Phil
MOTM: Will
DOTD: Shrek