After three tough warm up friendlies, Streatham-Croydon came into the game with a little bit of pressure to deliver a performance that reflected all of the hard work that the players had put in over pre-season. After some discussions during the week reviewing the team performances during those three, Head Coach Chris Callaway made the decision to move Captain Chris Geary to inside centre, and boy did that have an impact on the performance.

After a good warm up, Streatham started at a canter. Bec Old Boys messed up the kick off with the ball not travelling 10. Streatham called for a scrum from which a simple back move resulted in Liam Gallagher breaking the line and being one on one with the Full Back. Fly Half and Man of the Match Kai Cassemis, running a fantastic support line caught up and Gallagher duly gave the pass that set Cassemis clear of the defence to dot down between the posts. A Try which he then duly converted. 30 seconds into the game and Streatham had a 7 point led.

For the next ten minutes, with Streatham still finding their feet with the new line up, the team struggled to stay on the right side of the referee, which duly ended up with Bec Old Boys scoring from a simple catch and drive, which ended short and a good pass set the winger clear to crash over the line.

And then things started to click for Streatham as both Cassemis and Geary grew in confidence, and once the flood gates had opened with Geary being sent clear, again to dot down between the posts, the tide seemed almost unrelenting. Geary's try was followed quickly with another for debutant Jake Doherty, who had a fine game at scrum half.

At this point Streatham conceded another converted try from another catch and drive at a line out. At this point they lost the aggressive Martin Hindshaw with a dislocated ankle and can only hope that he returns to fitness soon.

Streatham wrapped up the half by scoring the bonus point try with another fine break which saw Gallagher dot down between the posts. Cassemis was certainly enjoying his goal kicking with the team ensuring that all of the first half trys were scored under the posts, and Streatham went into half time leading 28 - 15.

Half time was a bubbly place and the team went into the second half looking to really set down a marker for the rest of the season. The following 15 minutes not only killed off the match as a contest, but really showed how much Streatham have changed the way they want to play rugby. What followed was a five try in 15 minute onslaught which saw Chris Geary, Tim Perry, Vinny Auguiste and Opeyemi Odelusi (with 2) score, with Cassemis converting all but two of them.

The final 25 minutes saw Streatham lose a bit of shape as one by one they lost more players to injury and juggled the team around to accommodate for those injuries. During this time they showed their defensive capabilities defending their lines for large periods keeping Bec Old Boys out. Time did tell and Bec Old Boys final got a consolation try. However it should be noted that Streatham during this time never swayed from the attacking endeavour with only the final pass failing to reach hands on a number of occasions, to which the result could have been significantly wider in margin.

That evening the members of the club joined together to attend the Opening Season Club Dinner with a great smile across their faces.

The first team will take next weekend off to recover and recuperate after 4 quite physical weeks and look forward to returning to battle against the Metropolitan Police on the 11th October.