By Clive Stuart-Smith Esher RFC scrum-half

Stuart-Smith has had spells with Worcester and Llanelli

What a difference a week makes. It was exactly seven days from the game last Friday against Nottingham to the game against London Welsh.

The venue was somewhat different, as was the weather. A few of the boys had bought their snorkel and mask just in case the rain built up enough puddles for a quick dip beforehand.

When the weather closes in, the game really does highlight attitude more than anything else. Rarely in muddy conditions do you see white shirts at the end of the match, referee included. Considering London Welsh wore red and we wore black it would have been somewhat of a freakish occurrence.

We kicked intelligently and barring a few little defensive lapses, we put together a very accomplished first half. Playing in the right areas of the pitch is paramount and we seemed to have the correct balance.

Winning allowed us to take a deep sigh of relief but we knew that we could have given the game away. Clive Stuart-Smith

So often half-time allows a side to recuperate and it certainly allowed Welsh to do that. Conceding a few too many penalties (again) our stronghold faded the longer the game progressed but we managed to hang on and get the result.

Winning allowed us to take a deep sigh of relief but in the back of our minds we knew that we could have given the game away. The positives far outweighed the negatives and this meant happy campers over the weekend.

We face the Bees this weekend on Sunday so it allows us a few extra days to get the four R's essential after any game in - rest, recovery, read and rap. Birmingham & Solihull have been scoring lots of tries in recent weeks, particularly against top sides which is testament to their attacking ability.

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