The annual after Christmas club Us v Them do, this year the Club Blue team, 1s and 2s, against Matt Anstis’s Invitation Red team, Matt Anstis and a collection of his former playing mates, veterans for the most part and a sprinkling of youngsters.
This is not intended to be a normal match report largely because it wasn’t the sort of game where who scored mattered though there are a couple of names mentioned in the report.
The match was refereed in a sporting manner, as befits the occasion, by the club’s favourite referee, Drew Meakin who returns to the club of his youth every year.
Afterwards the Badgers amongst the supporters, the older club members will know what I mean by Badgers, declared that it was a “thoroughly entertaining game” and indeed it was.

An overcast and damp drizzly afternoon did nothing to take the fun out of the game. Before a crowd of around one hundred and sixty, the two teams rollicked their way up and down The Rectory field, players going on and off as it suited them, either to take a breather or to enjoy a drink, or both.
The early stages were even with the Reds just on top though they were under severe pressure in the scrums. It was Shaun Dunn who opened the scoring for the Reds after breaking a weak tackle to score near the posts. We now know why he has never been a goal kicker because his effort at a conversion only reached the dizzy heights of four inches off the top of the grass.
At half time the score stood at 10~15 to the Matt Anstis All stars, with Sam ‘Gobby’ Bennett scoring one of I think three tries for The Club Blues.
The second half became slightly more anarchic, at one point the Blues were attacking down the stand side and looked as if a try was on the cards when a shrill whistle blast stopped the movements, evidently the whistle had come from someone in the crowd and it appeared from across the pitch and in the drizzle that referee Drew Meakin went over and waved his red card at the whole crowd.
It was not till the twenty-fifth minute of the half that the Blues eventually took the lead at 24~22.
Paul Martin, who had sensibly decided not to play, had sportingly volunteered to run the line but was yellow-carded for something trivial along with a player who looked as if he had volunteered for a yellow card so he could go off for a pint of something.
That was it for the Reds, whilst they never gave up their play became a little loose and it allowed Luke Stannard and Richard Goldsby-West to score a try each to end the afternoon with the final score standing at 36~22.
Afterwards Dave Perriham opened a bottle of something fizzy and it went everywhere then trooped through the clapping tunnel of Blues along with the rest of the Reds to claim, once again, that that was his final game. See you next year Dave. Dave Oakley, Rocky Young and the great Del Cambridge-Stokes were amongst a few others who played having ‘hung up their boots’ some years previously.
We even had the Chairman of Launceston RFC, Andy Crichton, playing for the Reds.
In the crowd there were a good number of former players and members who had actually thrown their boots away.
Declan Sexton had come over from America where he is working to visit family and was enjoying a visit to his former club.
In the club afterwards old memories were exchanged, tries scored were recalled or imagined and a good buffet had been laid on.
All in all a good afternoon.
The next home game will be against Okehampton on the 7th of January.

The Matt Anstis Reds v The Club Blues by Mike Yeats. The Reds v The Blues.