Casuals open season with a win

The Casuals lined up for their first fixture of the season in a league match against Pulborough on Saturday, with a mixture of youth and 'experience' in the side. This was particularly true of the father & son combination of Jake Gates (youth) and Bob Gates (LOTS of experience), taking to the field in Senior league rugby for the first time.

Pulborough struggled with numbers and were only able to muster 12 players, so in true Casuals style captain David York identified the players he felt most deserved a shoeing from their mates, dressed them in black and white and sent them out to face the music. Kudos to Dave Murray, Steve Underwood and Mike Fisher for taking it on the chin and playing for Pulborough.

Less kudos to Dan Kelly, who misunderstood how this was meant to work and actually scored a try for Pulborough in the second half...

The game was dominated by Horsham throughout, with the tries coming thick and fast both sides of half time. Owing to the fast and frenetic pace of the game (translation: Yorkie can't remember) the timings of what came when have been lost to history, but the final tally saw a hat-trick for fly half Rory Yeates, two tries apiece for David York and Jake Gates, and one each for Sean Wasley, Chris Mallows and Bob Gates, with two conversions apiece for Bob and Rory. Dan Kelly's try doesn't count as it was for the wrong team.

TEAM

1. Nick White 2. Adie Parsons 3. Adie Lewis 4. Bob Fennelly 5. tony lewis 6. Jonny Gow 7. Sean Wasley 8. Greg Chrusciel 9. David York 10. Rory Yeates 11. Chris Mallows 12. Dan Kelly 13. Paul Birch 14. Jake Gates 15. Bob Gates

16. Dan Stephens 17. Michael Drew 18. Steve Underwood 19. Dave Murray 20. Mike Fisher