Once upon a time in a far away land called "West London", the Finsbury Park Fifteen set out from their home, not sure if they'd ever return... They arrived as one, few in number, but strong in spirit.

Immediately, the group were set a challenge before they could enter. The scales of battle were not even, and the bandits required we sacrifice two of our own to become enemy combatants. Having never completed this rite of passage before; Rob Palmer and Matt Webb stepped forward to fight for their opponents. It was decided. 12 v 12.

Finsbury started the charge with what felt like the strength of a 100 men, and it was too much for Northolt who gave away a penalty from the pressure. A quick response from Finsbury and the action was squarely with Jack 'The Mountain' Graham, who beat the opponent in front and could have taken glory for himself, but instead trusted his outside man and Andrew Platt took the offload to secure their first points.

The Knights of Finsbury were eager to capitalise on their momentum and forced a retreat of the knaves. The enemy took a lineout from their own 5m line but were not fast enough and Can Ozdemir hit them so hard they lost the precious orb backwards; Tom Birdseye was quick to support him and touched the orb down to secure us 5 more points.

There was some light jousting back and forth from the restart, until Finsbury earned a scrum. It was won and the Orb travelled right via a miss pass from 10 (Pete Murray) to 13 who ran towards a gap in the melee. Once through the line he saw his old friend, Knight Palmer, the only one blocking his path to glory, but before they could resolve their duel some unholy magic caused the 13 to fall over absolutely nothing and cry out 'oh ffs' as he fell to the ground, then panicked, presented the orb to nobody, and allowed Palmer to regain possession for the enemy.

Spurred on by the success of their temporary compatriot, Northolt bolted forward and pushed Finsbury to their own 22. Some tired bodies allowed the knaves to slip through and all was nearly lost, except Can appearing out of nowhere to tackle the Orb carrier into touch with a life saving tackle.

Alas, in these times, nothing is forever. Northolt did eventually score, and then they scored again. It even seemed they were on for a 3rd as their band grew every more confident, but perhaps, too confident? The orb was shifted quickly from one wing to another, approaching the right flank with pace and surely into the corner... But not quite, for they had a traitor in their midst! Sir Palmer unfortunately 'dropped' the orb over the line and the game's squire declared it a knock-on.

The 2nd half of our battle commences, and after a lengthy strategy session and reminders that this wouldn't be easily won, Finsbury Park were ready to dig in and earn their reward. Except, it would be that easy, as Birdseye received the kick and immediately ran around the entire troupe of bandits to score under the posts.

The next restart involved a bit more back and forth, but eventually Caballero Sanchez took charge and darted around people like they were set in stone. Birdseye was running in support and set the orb down to earn his hat-trick.

Despite flexing his prowess, Birdseye was not content, and figuring "it's already worked once?" he decided to break Northolt down further with another try from the restart!

Poor defense from Fins lead to pressure on their own 5m line. A fluffed kick that didn't go out was accidentally recovered by Can, unfortunately for him, he was incredibly offside. Northolt were awarded a penalty, and they did well to work around and score in the corner.

The orb is finally back with Finsbury, and their minds were focused. It's shifted from the scrum to 10, to 12, to 13, a loop and back to 12, and finally to their 14 Robert (now safely back from enemy clutches), who made some yards and offloaded to his 13. The 13 broke through contact but still stumbled to the ground! Not wanting to repeat the mistake of his former self, he rose up again and powered on through and under the posts to score and hopefully redeem himself.

Another reset, and some beautiful handwork shifts the orb wide and Jake the Painter treats the earth beneath him like his own personal canvas; running a beautiful line through Northolt and towards the posts. Always in support, Alex son of Young is there for an offload and secures the final points of the duel. Or so we thought...

With the sands of time only allowing 1 more minute of play, there were some cries to end it all there, but they were ignored in aide of maintaining honour. With tired bodies, the orb changes sides rapidly and without reason, eventually settling with Northolt for a final lineout on the Finsbury 22 and a chance for them to save face. Alas, it was not their day. Recovered by our fearless leader, John 'The Must' Musson, he used the last of his energy to valiantly stride down the field. Musson was just 5m out from victory when he was affronted by his former comrade, luckily he was able to slip past him with a quick step and a resigned shout of "fuck off Matt". He scores. The whistle goes. Victory for Finsbury.

So ended the tail of the Finsbury Fifteen. Full-Time : Finsbury 46 - 24 Northolt.

And how do I know of this story you ask? Well, because I was there, I fought with this merry band, it I was that 13 who yelled 'oh fuck' as he fell over nothing, and I even earned DoTD for it.

Trys: Birdseye (4) Musson (1) Andrew (1) Toby (1) Alex (1)
Conversions: Birdseye (1) Pete (1) Matt (1)

MoTM - Can
DoDT - Toby