The rivalry between the Metropolitan Police 1st XV and South Wales Police Rugby has a long and rich history. Long gone are the days of International players such as Bleddyn Bowen, Richie Collins, Paul Ackford and Martin Bayfield gracing the fixture and a plethora of recruitment officers trying to lure Welshmen to London. Indeed, recent commentary suggests that the Police are more likely to recruit a criminal than a rugby player. The Met are no longer considered "too good" to play in the annual Police competition. The result no longer merits a mention on the Final Score section of Grandstand or Radio 5 Live (as if the BBC needed more shame heaped upon it - ed), but this PSUK Cup match, on a bitterly cold January evening at the home of London Irish, a few miles up the Thames from the Met's spiritual home, was a match for the ages. The inspired decision of MPRFC Secretary Gavin Bolton to move the match from what would have been a heavy Imber Court pitch, to the all-weather surface in Sunbury clearly facilitated a feast of running rugby, not to mention several pints of Guinness!
South Wales took to the pitch in their pink hue and immediately looked like they meant business. The crisp handling and strong straight running of the Welsh backs sent shivers through the already cold home crowd, and Met would-be tacklers felt the hard ground more than the comforting warmth of muscular Welsh thighs (easy Tiger! - ed). Yet it was the Met who drew first blood. A penalty just outside the Welsh 22 was comfortably converted by Sunni Jardine and the Met had fired a warning shot across the visitors' bows.
Wales, at this stage, were undeterred. The half-backs, showing skills many thought lost to the Welsh valleys, pinged the ball left and right, scattering gold-clad defenders across the Irish landscape, inevitably leaving more room for Welsh runners than the Brecon Beacons, and the pink shirts swarmed over to notch-up a converted try. The spectators buzzed with the anticipation of a Welsh landslide, and the Met gathered behind their posts to organise a rearguard action, the likes of which had not been required since the miners' strikes of 1984.
And what a response! Harrying the opposition from the restart, the ball found its way to outside centre Jardine and he was off. Weaving and stepping past shocked tacklers, he hared towards the Welsh 22. Brilliantly supported by Joe Stirrup, Jardine flipped a pass inside for the Met No 9 to score unchallenged. Brilliant!
It was the fillip the Met needed. The pack picked up where Jardine had led. Inexorably, the Welsh scrum was shunted backwards. The English lineout began to soar like Bill McLaren's salmon of yore and, if only the Met could maintain their form, a remarkable result looked possible. But of course South Wales Police were far from beaten. Although their handling lost some of its early sharpness, Wales continued to drive through tackles and offload with alacrity. Encouraged by three missed kicks to touch by Jardine and Dalley, the Welsh reclaimed the lead on the half-hour mark with a second, fine converted try, following a series of thrusts into the Met's 22. Undeterred, the Met half-back pairing of Stirrup and Fred Dalley was bringing a calm authority to proceedings and, as the first half extended into an additional 10 minutes, both half-backs crossed for tries, again brilliantly created with the help of the winged Nikes (classical reference noted - ed)of Jardine, with Dalley adding both conversions. In the midst of the try flurry, South Wales missed a kickable penalty and the Met went into the break 22-14 to the good.
The second half began with sallies back and forth, although the Met pack still had the edge over their opposition. A kick into the Met's 22 gave South Wales good field position and, after a number of charges were successfully repulsed, the Welsh pack forced its way over the line for a third try. The missed conversion left the Met 22-19 ahead and from there the visitors imploded. Now the Met were finding space all over the pitch. Jardine ran in a try of his own, giving Dalley an easy kick under the posts. Left wing Rory Payn was increasingly involved and scored an excellent try on the hour mark, again converted by Dalley. Payn had another try disallowed after some debate between the officials, and for a while the match descended into a fractious affair. Both Jardine and the Welsh No7 were shown yellow cards after a minor altercation barely worthy of a 23 year old Swedish activist but Dalley put the result beyond doubt with a penalty in the 76th minute and South Wales were reduced to 14 men for a second time. Jack Doswell-Lowe, who had a magnificent game in the second row, crowned a glorious Met victory with a lengthy gallop, probably some 40 metres in the re-telling, touching down adjacent to the posts for Jardine to complete the rout with the extra two points, and a memorable 46-19 victory.
The Welsh looked slightly shell-shocked by the outcome but they had come up against an inspired Met outfit. Cormac Healy, playing his last game as a Police Officer before hitting civvy street, could bookend his 12-year career with impressive victories against "foreign" opposition. It is unlikely that he will have had many prouder days in a Met jersey.
The Met can now look forward to their own Welsh incursion - a trip to Cardiff Arms Park in February - and another opportunity for your intrepid reporter to wax hyperbole. Ryfeddol!