The game descended to uncontested scrums when Caldy’s pantomime villain of a replacement prop was sent off for foul play after a brief 2nd half cameo during which he appeared determined to contrive his own dismissal.

Flanker Nigel Mukarati was first to score at the tail of a driving maul after Caldy’s under-pressure scrum infringed and the hosts kicked to the corner.

The visitors were then penalised for an early tackle, the Saxons moving lineout ball down the backline where outside half Sam Robinson ghosted through a gap and fed the ball wide to fullback Matt Farrington. A deft offload drew the cover and put winger Nathan Bressington in at the corner.

It wasn’t one-way traffic though and Caldy hit back with a catch & drive try of their own. Mukarati pulled back the hosts’ lead though with his 2nd try from a driving maul after Caldy’s scrum coughed up a penalty deep in their 22.

A Caldy attack stalled when the industrious 2nd row Ben Hughes forced a turnover with a determined counter-ruck. Scrum half Pete White spotted the Caldy back 3 out of position and put in a chip kick that winger Jamie Hearn reached first. Though the Caldy cover pulled off some spectacular try-saving tackles the ball was worked through the hands of Farrington and no.8 Chris Depper before finally reaching the feet of White who hacked it through and dropped on it to score.

Caldy’s short range maul caught the Saxons’ defences napping for their 2nd try, but the half ended with the restart kick recovered and worked right where centre Stef Shillingford scythed through the defences to score under the posts. Half time 29-12.

Caldy grew frustrated after conceding a string of early 2nd half penalties in the tackle area, and as the hosts started to turn the screw with a series of drives an off-the ball fracas drew an assistant referee intervention & red card after a string of punches were landed on Saxons’ captain & loosehead prop Mark George. The hosts kicked for the corner and were rewarded when a catch & drive was forced over over against the depleted defences, Hearn the unlikely scorer having attached himself to the back of the maul.

The scrums had to go uncontested which denied the Saxons the dominant attacking platform they had previously enjoyed from that phase. But crucially they stuck to the game plan and refused to force the play. With Caldy tiring further scores were inevitable, the next from sub Sione Tu’ipolotu who broke a tackle on the fringes of a ruck after Farrington’s run was held up just short of the line. The final try went to Farrington who took Hearn’s catch & offload following Robinson’s deft kick over a misaligned defence. Final score 46-12.

Coach Mike Umaga commented ‘The guys stuck to the task well, we’d spoken long & hard about playing for the full 80 minutes and they kept their focus despite the distraction of the red card. Bottom line is we got 5 points. All the forwards played well, especially the 2nd rowers and none more so than man of the match Ben Hughes’.