St Ives staged their annual charity day at Somersham Road on Saturday. This year the Angels Foundation, which supports families affected by domestic abuse in Huntingdonshire, will already benefit with over £250 from members’ contributions (more receipts to follow).
The “Overs-Unders” day saw parents take on their mini and junior offspring in the touch rugby opener. Nobody kept the score, but there was some debate about the talent on view at both ends of the spectrum. It was at least agreed that the future of the Club is in good hands!
Once the seniors could be prised from the bar, an entertaining encounter saw a remarkable transformation in the game plan of the over-35s. Eschewing past practice, they played an expansive running game to astonish the Unders. It may have had something to do with the returning James Yeomans being in their ranks. He scored at least a hattrick of tries.
The Unders stuck to the task and scored a number of breakaway tries.
As both sides started looking south (towards the bar), the proceedings were brought to a close by the curmudgeon with the whistle. At that point nobody seemed to have noticed that each side had scored 7 tries. Overs will need to practise their conversions for next year, perhaps.
With everybody regathering in the warm, the donations bucket for the Angels went into full operational mode.
DoR Duncan Williams, a man who could not manage to don his boots to join his stalwart Overs companions, was heard to comment, “We’ve had some iffy refereeing in the past, but that beats it all.”
“Thankfully, rugby and the Angels were the winners. A great day out!”