Mike May from Dorking RFC was the referee in charge of this tense encounter in Surrey Conference League Three and it was his firm control that ensured the game was played in the best of spirits.

Reeds knew that Old Ruts were one of the strongest sides that they will face this season having been well beaten by them during the early part of last season, their strength was soon evident.

Up front they packed some big men, some past their best but well capable of giving Reeds all sorts of problems.

Reeds were never quite able to ensure that their tight scrummage ball was secure, similarly in the lineouts, possession from both departments was always under pressure and generally going backwards, not by much, but effective attacks come from a pack that is jolting forward either from scrum, loose play or the lineout and that didn’t happen too often.

In those circumstances you need to mount a solid defence and deny the opposition any sort of quick or decent ball and Reeds certainly did that, many times through the iron determination of their skipper and prop forward Ben Lewis, he managed to infiltrate the mauls and the rucks and get his hands on the ball and keep them there.

Reeds best chances came during the first half when they had the hill in their favour, they came mighty close but it was a wet day and ball handling was tricky and they also had to face a committed Rutlishian defence.

At the change round, neither side had scored, but just after the restart, Reeds strayed offside and the Rutlishian fly half Gary Forge banged the penalty over.

That score heralded a series of attacks on the Reeds line but out in the backs they had a father and son combination, Richard Booth at full back and his son Tom and Mike Munro the Reeds centres who were at the heart of the defence, they were in that defensive posture for most of the second half.

The pressure on the Reed’s scrum led to the only try of the day when the ball squirted out and scrum half Richard Earthrowl pounced on the bobbling ball.

Reeds might just have nicked the game in the last ten minutes when John Tyndale slotted a penalty to get them within one score then No 8 Richard Glasson and flanker Olly Tait had several thrusts through the defence close to the Ruts line but they just couldn’t cross the line.

It was mainly a defensive day for Reeds and they produced a battling performance that kept the result in doubt until the end.