Gosh, where to start; I could talk about the quality of rugby on show from the men and the women before, the intensity of the contests, the fitness and bravery of all the players, slugging it out in 30+ degrees. I could but sadly I missed much of the games because I was otherwise engaged or in the bar so what follows is part fact, part fiction, (big) part nonsense and with no Neil Milan to bail out the scribe this time there’s no point moaning about inaccuracy, get over it ?

After a ruthless and efficient performance by the ladies 1st XV, fresh from their glorious triumph the week before it seemed a dead cert that the men would also put the Baa Baa’s to the sword too. The dads and grandads and looking at some of the lads possibly great grandads surely could not live with the thrusting young blades over 80 minutes in the searing heat. Mind you with a cast of 100’s on the Baa Baa’s side including beasts (in the nicest way possible) such as Clev the 1’s knew they were in for a physical examination of the sternest type.

And it certainly started that way, the elderly gents appeared not to have read the script and ripped into an early lead, power, pace, and panache all combined in a pot pouri of purity and purpose to stun the 1st team and awaken a crowd drowsing in the heat and sea of lager and diesel. Talking of crowds, it has to be worth mentioning the huge numbers who filled the touch line and bar; a veritable who’s who of legends and faces from the past all united in their love for this wonderful of club of ours, as well as a love of beer of course.

With so many legends out there it’s hard to pick out too many folks but special mention to Pay Markey, one of the main driving forces of this great day. He’d have been so proud to turn out with his son and the pair of them were part of a pack which savaged the 1st team lads. Of course once these behemoths blew their wads things calmed down as great but a bit less greats such as Eddie ‘quicker, faster, stronger’ Redding, Walter ‘the weasel’ Easel, Baz ‘the T-pot’ Mitchell, all we really missed was a cameo from Colin Treacle although a plethora of Frenchie’s all came on and all added to the game.

For the 1’s mention must be made of Wardy (just because it’s part of my contractual obligation), Liam ‘cos he’s worth it’ Caddy who despite his glinting-in-the-sun curls is rock hard and Lamar who has continued to develop and grow into a wonderful player who’ll be sorely missed but who goes with our best wishes and luck. Rimarni who is also leaving us sadly was also involved in some of the moments of the match; one collision between him and Clev must have caused tremors felt for miles away. It was the essence of rugby; 2 big men unwilling to take a backward step, bodies on the line for their team, bravo gents!

I know that I have missed out moments of brilliance, both individual or team, there were just to many to mention but deep inside you know who you are and what you did – bravo again to all of you!

The game continued in such fashion, defense's were tested and shredded, attacking play from both sides incisive and the tries flowed as smoothly as the Guinness and in the end surely the right result was a 45 – 45 draw, it was too much to pick a winner. However in a moment which will surely go down in infamy - Rob Wilden (who probably should have been playing for the Baa baa’s, the old sod (not that they’ll have him now) slotted a conversion with the last kick of the game. Of course we all love Rob but maaaate, really, was that really necessary?! Still putting aside this low act I think we all agreed that we should ignore it and call the match a draw and as they say the pen is mightier than the sword to lets stick with it.

The evening was epic, good to see so many of the players out mixing and enjoying the craic, talking of which the Irish mafia came in force, armed with sharp wits and a golf ball they went full bore on their recruitment drive for the o2e ride in September. Like a latter day press gang they rounded up the ‘vulnerable’, brooking no opposition in signing up the chaps, cant wait! The band were good, the beer magical, the silly queuing system at the bar continues to annoy and baffle in equal measures but the bants were magic and a really great night was had by all!

Finally we’ve lost some really big characters over the last 10 years and it was good to remember them with an immaculately observed 2 mins silence and also talking about them during the day. I hope that we did them justice and that they’d be proud of the love and emotion we still feel for them – rest well brothers.

Clearly a day like this doesn’t just happen so lets all say a huge thank you to the organisers; our club does these days so well and it’s a reminder of how lucky we are to be part of the mighty BRFC.

All photos, from both the Men's and women's games are now here on the website.