‘Twas the night before Christmas.

Or at least that’s how it felt for the majority of Cambridge South Mens 2s on Friday night as we all settled down for a cup of cocoa before retiring for a blissful early night, in anticipation for what lay ahead in the day that followed.

As we awoke at 7am with that memorable Christmas Day feeling in our bellies, all anticipated a great day of sporting achievements ahead - celebrating England’s road to glory in the Rugby World Cup, followed by a much-needed victory to get ourselves back on that road to glory against Ely 1sts.

The media hype had been non-relenting, having coined it the best ‘Super Saturday’ since the 2012 Olympics. Two hours of emotional, eye-watering montage build up on ITV later we were ready…parked on sofas as true athletes, with our performance-enhancing bacon sarnies and filter coffees. Kick off!

Alas, the child-like excitement soon wore off. As quickly as Jamie George realised that he can’t in fact execute nonchalant reverse handed off-loads, to a man the M2’s players too realised that the first leg of this wondersome sporting day was not going to end well. As England’s boys whimpered to a dressing-down by the Springboks, South M2s realised that all of the media attention would now turn to them - could they rescue this ‘Super Saturday’.

And so onward we went. In a day of ups and downs, M2s arrived at Fortress Long Road in a positive mind frame, determined not to let the morning’s rugby match dictate the rest of the day and our performance. The atmosphere was focused and positive. The only eye-watering part of the build up this time was due to the copious (and suspected unnecessary) amount of Deep Heat that Nik Patel was routinely applying to his various extremities.

There was but one distraction to the professional build up, which was becoming a common place discussion amongst 2s’ teammates - where on earth was our vice-captain? As Le Menz set out his tactical master plan to win the game, concern grew silently in the background - was Shin okay? Had he realised we were playing this afternoon? Had he finally succumb to salmonella or the like from his second or third McDonalds of the weekend?

Imagine the relief as we found our VC having the time of his life out on the pitch on his own, donning a beautiful baby blue beanie sat fashionably on top of his dark locks. Completely oblivious for the concern from his fellow team mates, Shin’s choice of fashion attire was envied by some, particularly those who have a soft spot for the mid-90s Emo look. Tom Anns showed a real interest, repeatedly referring to his own long-haired Emo days as his ‘glory years’. Fingers were involved a lot during this period (apparently), but I’ll stop there with any more detail. Should you require more detail, I am sure Mr Anns will be more than happy to share over a pint or two on the upcoming Mens 2s’ social.

The rallying cry from the Captain was clear - goals and more goals. And we duly responded. Starting the match well, South dominated possession and moved the ball really nicely. Rugby match, what rugby match?! The boys picked themselves up well and dominated the opening minutes. All be it, it took a bit of time to score. Until up stepped our Emo-loving VC himself, with a gloriously calm strike from the top of the D past the goalkeeper.

After this, the positive play continued and TBH I can’t remember much about the other goals. BUT, the website informs me that Puds, Walsh, Panos and Chalk all stepped up to the mark and scored to drive us home to a glorious 5-0 victory. ‘Super Saturday’ had been saved. Apart from a couple of comical on pitch lapses in concentration from the likes of Menz (spinny thing straight of the side of the pitch) and Walsh and Chalk (both missing sitters from three yards out), the display had been sumptuous and satisfying.

In a packed post-match press conference, Captain Menz cited the words from our oh-so-nearly-glorious Australian Rugby Coach as being very apt indeed… “The only thing I am worried about now is having a few beers…after we have a few beers today, we will probably have a few more beers tomorrow and maybe Monday we will have to pull up stumps.”

Super Saturday saved. ALL THE LADS.