Calne Crusaders were looking forward to a trip to Supermarine 2XV but were soon disappointed to learn that no fewer than nine players had pulled out of Calne’s games which meant both the 1XV and 2XV were at full stretch to fulfil their fixtures.

After a 15 min delay to kickoff due to waiting for the final few Calne players to turn up the game kicked off with the visitors fielding 14 players against the Supermarine 15. The game started well for Calne whose forwards put the marine defence under a great deal of pressure. But as soon as the ball was recovered the home side broke two weak tackles and scored after only 5 minutes. Shortly after another (almost identical) play make it 14-0 to Supermarine.

However, Calne’s forwards dominated the rest of the half and camped in the Marine’s half for the rest of the 1st half. Wave after wave of attack shook the home side as Calne looked like getting a win against the odds. But it wasn’t long before Calne’s Mark Tait pulled a hamstring which reduced the away team to 13 players. Supermarine were severely beaten in the scrums and opted to request uncontested scrums other than face the onslaught. On the stroke of half time Supermarine were awarded a penalty and converted to make it 17-0. Seconds later Prop Chris Austin injured his ankle and with Ian Elwood also unable to continue Calne were reduced to 11 players and the referee blew the final whistle and awarded the match to Supermarine. Due to the way the game ended, the referee doubled the 17-0 score line.

Well done to the Calne players who showed tremendous heart against the odds and performed very well and indeed left the field knowing that with 15 players against 15 the game may have been totally different.