No shows cripple Seconds

A mixture of No shows and cry offs left the Seconds with just 12 players for their friendly at Barton Hill.
Starting with just 11 Saints and a guest from Barts they struggled to contain a Barton Hill side eager to reverse their defeat in the earlier league meeting.
However a gutsy defensive display made Barts work for every point and their efforts were a credit to them all.
After 30 minutes the arrival of Gary Bull and another guest saw us up to 14 but by now Barts were well on top and it was a question of damage limitation.
The second half saw Barton Hill continue to dominate but having to work very hard for their points and in fact Saints in a rare second half attack following some good handling scored an excellent try even if from one of the Barton Hill guests!!
This obviously worried Barts for when one of their players was injured instead of finishing the match 14 v 14 they took back our scorer making it 13 v 15.
Obviously a disappointing result for the seconds following the previous weeks success and had much to do with availability and lack of communication which must be addressed
Over 50 different players have represented the first and seconds this season but we still struggle to put out an 18 man match day squad for the seconds making on average 6 to 8 changes per week.
It is vital players confirm their availability by Tuesday 6pm to Tom Selman or myself so we are not guessing who is available when selecting the side and it is even more important to let us know if you have to cry off.
We cannot have a repeat of Saturday.