In years past, the Surrey cup competitions haven't been prioritised at Streatham-Croydon. Particularly in the past few seasons, a beleaguered and exhausted team did not have the energy to take up an additional competition. Oh how the club is different now. Following our successful season in winning Surrey 4 comfortably, the mens squad discussed the opportunity to take this cup seriously, and seriously we took it. A walkover win against Guilfordians, a win against league above Croydon and a win against a much improved (and surely next years Surrey 4 champs) Old Hamptonians set the club up for its first final in 10 years to compete for the Surrey Shield with Merton.

As is tradition, Surrey cup finals day takes place at Esher rugby club, this year on the Bank Holiday Monday, with our final taking place at 12pm. Due to this early start, the club decided to organise a coach to take both players and supporters together. The atmosphere was tense but full of excitement. Following a bacon sarnie and a coffee put on by the club, we rocked up at Esher rugby club (just about remembering kit, balls, tackle bags, physio bag....). A big thank you to all the travelling fans who made the effort to come support the team. The encouragement and *occasional* groan at the ref really spurred the boys on.

After getting ready in a changing room the size of a toilet cubicle, coach Jesse Mackewn and assistant coaches for the day Freddy Green and Josh Smith put the boys through the warm ups. Not many words of encouragement were needed to get the boys heads in the right place today. The team, today being led by Charlie Pattihis and VC'd by Max Thomason in Freddy Green's absence were sharp and looked in good condition. Not more than a minute after the brilliantly named Surrey Barrel final finished, Strets took the field against a Merton side with whom we have had many battles with in recent years. Always a physical side, there were a few familiar faces in their lineup from our days in Surrey 3.

The SCRFC faithful could tell the team were in a game from the opening kick off. Merton started quickly, keeping possession and running hard, physical lines. However Strets knew that they would be under pressure during this game at points, and the goal was to meet and be excited by that challenge. The Strets D was strong the whole game, with all the team making huge, and even heroic at times, tackles to prevent a big Merton team from beating the gain line. Max Thomason, who tends to prioritise his prancing pony run game over his defence, was putting in hit after hit in close quarters. Tom O'Connor also stepped up and put in some huge hits.

Merton and Strets exchanged a couple of penalty kicks, with Strets getting on the ball a lot more after the first 5 minutes. Then, the big crowd settled in to the Esher rugby club stand were treated to a bit of magic from 10 Adam Sheehy, who after assessing his options after picking up the ball, identified a gap in the back line to dart through, before beating the opposition full back to score under the posts.Unfortunately he could not follow up his individual score with a conversion.

Shortly afterwards, Merton would put the boys under pressure and squeeze a try over desperate tackles. They also missed the conversion to take us to 8-8. Strets then scored two quick tries in succession. The first, a moment of individual brilliance from new winger Max McCarthy, who after taking a difficult catch on the sideline with ease in our own half, turned on the gas and beat three or four players on his wing to score in the corner. The crowd looked on with awe and were excited with this new raw talent SCRFC have landed. He may even have been quicker than Vinnie momentarily. For the second try, some great quick hands and some powerful running from the evergreen James Beynon and Rolstone Langmead resulted in a ruck near the opposition 5 metre line. With 9 Tom O'Connor shaping up to get it wide, an incensed Josh Smith could not control his shouts of "FIJI, FIJI", our call for a pick and go. Max Thomason, hearing this, licked his lips as all props do seeing no more than 1 metre between themselves and the try line, picked and went, flopping over the try line. One try was converted, and after two more Merton penaltys, the score was 20-19 at half time. A bit of confusion over the score between the ref and the SCRFC faithful occurred with the ref asserting the score was 20-24 at half time, but fortunately *SPOILERS*, it wouldn't affect the result. Unfortunately, 15 Ben Cowell, after making an admirable attempt at a try saving tackle to hold the ball up during the Merton try, simply asked the referee some questions in a very calm and respectful way, and got sin binned. This took his season tally to an impressive 3 yellow cards and one red card.

With the first half weathered in an even game, the Strets boys were confident for the second half. No complicated messages at half time, just keep doing what we're doing. The Strets coaching staff also managed the bench very well, with every single substitute coming on and making a big impact in their position. Strets were typically dominating at set piece, with Rocky and Jason dominating in the air and Chis and Parker dominating at scrum time.

Second half, the flood gates opened. First Tom O'Connor, followed his man of the match performance in the semi final, scored his second try in two weeks after taking an offload and getting over the whitewash. This may prove to be Tom's last game for the club, and what a way to end it. Although only here for a season, Tom has made a big impression on the club and the players, and will be missed.

Shortly afterwards, centre Charlie Pattihis, after running his customary dummy hard line after dummy hard line was given the ball by 10 Sheehy. The fear from the Merton backline was palpable as they saw those Cypriot tree trunks thundering towards them. "I AM A LAWYER" he shouted, as Charlie crashed over, beating two or three players to score under the posts, capping off one of his best games in a SCRFC shirt leading the team brilliantly.

Finally, scores by Freddie Smart, playing in his customarily laissez faire attitude but still being very good at rugby, and the now pretty much one-legged James Beynon completed the rout. Adam Sheehy added a few more conversations to end up at an impressive 5/7 cons and 1 penalty, brought the final score to 48-24. Strets win the Surrey Shield.

Cue jubilant scenes post game, with club steward and geezer Owen Howells handing out flares to supporters. Captain Freddy Green went full John Terry and took off his trackies to reveal some shorts. He didn't want to miss this moment too. The boys did it. League and cup double. All the silverware offered, SCRFC took, gladly.

What a season it has been. After a difficult couple of years for everyone during the pandemic, we at the club couldn't have dreamed of such a successful season. We have managed to turn around the club after a difficult few years, and we are all full of excitement and anticipation of what is to come next year in Surrey 3 and beyond. Every mens player has played their part in the clubs success, however small. Everyone associated with the club should be very proud. League and cup double.

In the immortal words of the Vinnie Auguiste - C'MON STRETS

MOTM - Rocky
DoD - Ben Cowell
MoS - Rolstone Langmead