South won the toss and had the push back for the start of the game (little did we know it was our only push back for the entire game). The mighty South hosted St Ives who, according to Captain Xabi McCaw, travelled all the way from Cornwall. South started off well and could have scored in the first few minutes only for some opposition players to get in the way. South eventually opened the scoring with Craig Savea pouncing on a rebound shot. Savea then smoked though St Ives before beating the goalie for the second. Savea was on fire and reminded the spectators of the young Rob Lomu back in his heyday. (Average Fact No.1: Lomu and Savea currently live in the same neighbourhood).

Saints had a good strike on goal only for Jason Smith to deflect the shot away. South were wary of their potential fire power and made sure it did not happen again. Savea sliced through the Saints and scored another goal for his hat-trick and decided to rest for the rest of the game as he had to be fresh for the whole season to come.

Jack Retallick scored twice and was due a third, only to realise that pay day was not until the 25^th and decided to pass the ball to John Milner-Skudder who was a step from the goal mouth and scored.  Milner-Skudder what a step – looking forward to see how many tries goals he finishes up with at end of the world cup season.

South went into the second half with the lead after a solid team talk and Mark Kaino stating the obvious (Average Fact No.2 who ever bought the sweets at half-time should have received a MOM vote). Coach Colin Hansen’s training drills were finally getting through to the South players and for some phases of play it was difficult to tell the difference from match day and training. Kaino scored from a trademark Hansen drill. However, South had not practised enough defensive short corners routines and decided that they could do with the practise. Again Smith played well in the back making numerous saves.

Once defensive corner practice was over, South managed to get into the opposition circle only for Kaino to be pushed over whilst shooting at goal. The umpire awarded a penalty flick and Bhav Biggar stepped up to the tee and slotted through the keeper. Biggar is now on a 2 from 2 winning streak. He will just need to work on his pre-flick ritual to ensure he maintains his %.

So the game finished 8-0 which was a fair result. Still improvements to be made and Saints will be a completely different team at home. Good work guys, just keep it together one game at a time and don’t peak too early.

South went to the club house after the game and were well aware that Savea was buying a jug for his hat-trick. The remaining South players all bought a £1 coke and were looking forward to the free beer (Average Fact No. 3: Retallick was not the only player that gets paid on the 25^th of each month). Savea turned up with what appeared to be a jug of milk but was actually a jug of froth. Thank god for the pizzas!