Over the last fortnight as it became clear that Streatham - Croydon were going to have to begin the season without a warm up match. Add into to this some last minute Bestival arrangements, there were threats to the performance of the team. Credit must be given to those players called in at the last minute, because to do so with the new structures in place is actually quite a big ask, and they all performed admirably.

With a really fluid warm up the opposition had already a slight concern about the outcome, but as with all things running unopposed is never the same as running opposed and it took Streatham quite a bit of time before the found their feet, 30 minutes or so really. The first half was a story of strength, team work and solid defence by Streatham. With the opposition look to play round the corner with their big set of forwards, the Streatham pack had to work hard, constantly working away around the break down, picking up the next ball carrier. And to the forwards credit, the did so with absolute ferocity, constantly shutting down any hopeful runs. But with play constantly taking place at Streatham's 22 and with Cranleigh in possession is was a matter of time before decisions went with the flow of the game, and Cranleigh slotted two early penalties to give themselves a 6 point advantage.

Finally Streatham dragged their attacking game into the mix and after managing to string together a couple of phases, Andy Daniels found space around the ruck at first receiver and broke for the line. It was a good score and after Daniels put it down between the posts up stepped Kai Cassemis to add the extra points.

And so the game started to swing Streatham's way, but a spilled ball on the half way fell into the opposition's hands and they were able to run untouched to score under the posts making the half time score Cranleigh 16 Streatham 7. The half time team talk focused on the positives on the defence and getting the players to build confidence in the attack structure and take on the opposition.

Unfortunately although again Streatham started strongly, a couple of cheap penalties and Cranleigh managed to score from one of their driving mauls. scoring in the first 5 minutes of the second half.

But this proved to be the turning point in the game and Streatham started to relax in possession and it started to show. With man of the match, Ope Odelusi, starting to find some good running lines, the space just started to appear. After two of his barn storming runs Streatham scored twice quickly in succession with first Daniels crossing for his second try and Johnnie Warner scoring his first of the season. Kai Cassemis managed to convert Daniels' try, but Warner's was from the touch line and was always going to be a big ask for Kai.

And that set up a fantastic 15 minutes as first Craneligh went on the charge and then Streatham, the latter showing the courage to try and run from a scrum on their own 5 metre line, which ended just shy of the opposition 22 before Cranleigh conceded a penalty. With none of the available kickers feeling confident in the distance, and with captain Cassemis feeling particularly confident, Streatham went for the try. A dropped passed awarded Cranleigh a scrum and the duly punted the ball into touch to end the game.

There were some significant positives to take from the day. notably the debuts of Birchmore, Hindshaw and Parker all of whom gave significant accounts of themselves. All three were supported brilliantly by the play of Russell Moorcock and Ope Odelusi. With the Bestivalers due to return in the next few weeks, Streatham look forward to fine tuning their play over the next two friendlies before kicking off their league season on the 27th September at Home to Bec Old Boys