Amongst early mistakes from both sides, canine pitch invasions and the injury to a anticipated return for Joel Gregory, resulted in neither team settling into the match. "Tactical" kicking plagued the game in it's entirety but this was most evident in the opening minutes with both teams trying to gain territorial dominance, rather than risk running rugby on the questionable playing surface.

Early line breaks from Will Markham and a lively start from the fresh-faced back three put the Met on top with Tom Pearson eventually scoring a penalty to make it 3-0. Minutes later a fantastic opportunistic intercept in the centres by Tom Pearson led to a further Met penalty, again well converted. 6-0 to the Met. After some dogged persistence from a very physical Met pack and a superior lineout, with forwards FNG Ben Markham impressing in his new position, a scrum in the Mitcham 22 allowed Joe Billyard to weave his way through the Mitcham backline and under the sticks. Converted by Tom Pearson, 13-0 to the Met.

Mitcham quickly came back with a penalty of their own before half time to make it 13-3. The story of the half was some solid defence by The Met with some exceptional last-ditch tackles from Simon Hall and Lawrence Stone. However the large Met pack was beginning to tire getting around the park, with clean ball becoming an increasingly rare commodity for scrum half Simon Hall. Fortunately he maintained his composure and his distribution was top-draw all afternoon.

Second half and Mitcham came out of the blocks with real purpose in front of their home crowd, putting serious pressure on the Met Police's half. Some big defence from the boys including one of the hits of the day by Nick Stein, backed up by Matt Iles and Richard Smith rallying the forwards to keep Mitcham out.
Mitcham managed to entrench themselves on the Met tryline, denied several times by sterling defence from the forwards. New flanker Ben Markham showed some over-eagerness, coming offside to sack the Mitcham scrum half and finding himself warned by the referee. Apparently the scrum half had hands on, but the referee disagreed. Taking this warning onboard, Ben Markham immediately did exactly the same, this time shouting at the top of his voice, "Hands on!". The referee was not impressed, immediately brandishing the yellow card. 10 minutes in the sin bin for Ben Markham, pink helmet earned. Mitcham immediately scored and added the conversion to begin their comeback. 13-10 Met.

Shortly after the Met were awarded a penalty just inside the Mitcham half. Kicked wide by Gareth Williams, a fortunate bounce and an incredible display of work rate, commitment and conviction in chasing down the ball found Matt Bond diving on it for his first Met Police try. 20-10 following the conversion by Gareth Williams.

The Met machine was beginning to flow again with Will Markham, Joe Billyard and Joe Askew linking well and breaking tackles in the midfield. However Mitcham were beginning to get back into the game with the all too familiar feel of The Met's discipline and decision-making falling by the wayside. This showed when Mitcham scored and converted to close the gap to make it 20-17 in the final minutes, setting up a tense finish.
With Mitcham on the front foot, and the ever-noisy home crowd expectant of the completed comeback, the Mitcham scrum half found himself loose on the blindside sprinting for the line. This was halted impressively by Laurence Stone with what has to be the Hit Of The Day. A one-on-one jackhammer hit leaving both players firmly in touch. Handbags ensued with Will Markham first in to protect his young fullback and Matt Iles not far behind.

The Met defence performed bravely in waves during the game but not enough in the final minutes to stop a slick move and offload from Mitcham's hit and miss backline to score close to the uprights. An easy conversion was added win them the game 24-20.

Comeback complete.

Overall MPRFC were off the pace and not their usual selves, with notable absences such as centre James Beck. This combined with an apparent lack of match-fitness and with some players out of position, it was going to be a hard task to get a result against a passionate Rugby club like Mitcham. The Met will need to perform better in the New Year when Mitcham visit Imber Court for the reverse fixture.

Special Mentions:

Joe Askew & Nick Stein - for their great support play and hard hitting defence.

Will Markham - for creating chances for the back line and running hard lines throughout.

Bakkies Porter - for many large carries around the breakdown to provide vital momentum.

Hit of the day - Lawrence Stone

Pink Helmet - Ben Markham (again)

Man of the match - Lawrence Stone

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