Clive Stuart-Smith column

By Clive Stuart-Smith
Esher RFC scrum-half

Stuart-Smith has captained the England Saxons side

Going away to Rotherham is always a fierce challenge. We managed to obtain a 10-point lead but as we have already found out this season that simply is not enough, unless there are five seconds left on the clock.

Rotherham have a big pack and are very clinical when it comes to turning pressure into points. They came back into it and managed to sneak the win right at the death, which was a real killer blow considering we had been so far in front.

Our defence at times was immense but on those few occasions we slipped off a few tackles, Rotherham punished us. Our highlight was an outstanding, length-of-the-field team try, which does show we are very capable from anywhere on the field.

The Blakanator, otherwise known as Blakeybillysaurusrexatron, or Mike Blakeburn, was very prominent in the build up to the try and some of the handling could quite easily have been the 1973 Barbarians team from the golden days. Unfortunately, there were not enough of those moments.

My mother always told me I would be safer being a top level chess player

Clive Stuart-Smith

On Sunday, we make the trip to Cornwall to face the Pirates. They are without doubt the form side in the league, beating Worcester at Sixways in their most recent game.

On a slightly sombre note I have found this week that I have no intact anterior cruciate ligament in my knee. As the name suggests this is a rather crucial component in bouncing around being a rugby player. It does mean a while out of the game, which is extremely frustrating.

Clive consoles himself after his injury with a little something from his vegetable patch

My mother always told me I would be safer being a top level chess player. However with the yelp that I let out whilst injuring my knee against Birmingham & Solihull I have been told that singing as a lady soprano would be more my cup of tea.

Believe it or not chess injuries do tend to happen. Along with the odd finger or thumb injury the most common is temporary blindness as "Damn, I didn't see that" is often heard from a player during a game.

Vision does come back pretty quickly, quick enough to see the smug look on your opponents face. Checkmate.

I am desperately disappointed but being a very positive person the only thing that tends to get me down is when there isn't a supply of fresh vegetables to eat.

Fortunately my vegetable patch is sprouting all sorts of produce and it will for the foreseeable future so I'm as happy as a bunny.