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Many and varied things have been said about the indomitable Occies of London Media, from “over the hill” and “fat and old” to the more memorable “their front five look like they have eaten all the opposition”.

It is true if judged on looks alone our forwards wouldn’t be winning any beauty contests, many of us having spent far too long in the dark and mysterious world of the scrum…but as for the backs, they have no excuses!

The Occies used to be the team where you went when you knew you had to find a reason to not join the wife or girlfriend shopping for yet another Saturday. But over the recent years from Greg Cheatham’s stabilising captaincy and enthusing a new breed, through Phil Jenkins’ brief tenure when we won the Merit table to the present with Nick Rose continuing the league promotion, we have now been promoted three years in a row!

Most of the Occies have not seen a training ground since they were at school, but the love of the game and the bizarre need to find an excuse for a pint on a Saturday night keeps them more than motivated!

The youth need not fear getting a game as we are all rapidly progressing in years and find Sundays harder and harder to deal with (clearly though it is the hangover and not the rugby), and the need to replace the grizzly embattled warriors with new blood is ever growing. But all the same “everyone gets a game”!