Our hosts were very decent to lend us a couple of players to even up the numbers. With a changed formation, it was always going to be difficult to repeat the fluency of our 2 wins so far this campaign. Opening exchanges were very even. Although their pack was bigger and younger, our forwards seemed to have the edge and we were making ground. However, Billericay opened the scoring with a try built from short bursts by their forwards. From the restart, we went straight back at them. We were soon in their 22 and they were panicking. Darren Smith tried to drive over the line but was halted. Making the ball available enabled more pick and drives from Rich Miller and Dave Sarling. Then Lee Bywater looked right, but the fly half was in the ruck. As he doesn't do looking left, he chose to go forward and forced his way over to score. John Cox slotted the conversion to level the scores. Billericay now took the momentum and spent some time in possession. In spite of some great defence from Dan Kerr and a try saving tackle by Michael (I drank tea last night) Vidler, they did break through to re-take the lead. However, it was during this phase that Dave Hollick broke his record for continuous play without injury, in fact he lasted the whole game. Emma French was once again keeping fit as she tended the wounded. As half time approached, Billericay had built up a lead of 28 - 7 but a penalty gave us the chance to kick into the corner. From the lineout, we again had them panicking but they did regain possession and passed into touch to end the half (Yes, that is illegal....). Several players were patched up for the second half and the younger Billericay side clearly had more energy to use. When we had a penalty midway in their half, we opted for a Lucas crash ball. He drove into their big lumps and retained possession. Our pack kept us going forward before Darren Smith end up with the ball out wide. Halted 2 meters short of the line, he stretched for the line. There is a reason why he's called T-Rex as his short arm only moved the ball a few inches further forward. The ref penalised him for second movement but I think was to save his blushes. Meanwhile, Lucas had been helped off and we were down to 14. Turns out he's fractured a metatarsal- bloody football injury. Witham continued to push and after a series of half breaks, Josh (my girlfriends knickers) Taplin broke through to score. Rich Miller saw it was an easy conversion so he took it. Chris Jarman took a bit of a pounding but was involved in everything, he should have had a snorkel as he burrowed through a ruck to steal the ball. Vidler clearly forgot that he was playing for the seconds when under our own posts, he decides to run rather than tapping down. We were all strolling back saying, put it down Vidler, then there was a collective "oh shit" as he ran it. He evaded a tackle and made a good clearance kick thankfully as none of us was going to get back to help. Billericay were able to compile more points, once we were down to 14 players. While we could whinge about a couple of decisions, Billericay were worthy winners but the scoreline of 40-14 flattered them a little. Tom Tiny Ray was man of the match for his many runs with the ball and his determination throughout the game. I got tit of the week for my tantrum last week but I'm sure Darren did this to avoid getting it himself for his T-Rex moment. Thanks for to all the players, including the 2 that Billericay lent us.