Tales from the Members' Bar

No.16 Mark Easter (Part II)

As we sat down to renew our acquaintance, Mark Easter was surprised to learn that his piece had been the subject of the biggest post-bag of this series. I think it was a bit of an anticlimax for him when I recounted the arguments in the Jaffa: Cake or Biscuit debate. I put him on warning that, this time, he had to choose something unequivocally softer when stale than fresh. More of that later.

Chatting about National League One, Mark thinks we have acquitted ourselves well. There is plenty of nous in our forwards (he was not so unkind as to use the words: old heads) - especially the front row - to take on the big feisty packs and provide the platform for the attacking rugby we have seen throughout the season. There is the usual amount of analysis of the opposition - it would be folly to go into a game unaware of how the opponents play when there is so much video record around - but the main focus of training is to concentrate on our own game. It is important to the team and the coaches to be able to impose our own patterns of play on the game.

Undoubtedly there is some talent in the league and he would not be surprised to see some of those we have come up against featuring in Guinness Premiership sides in the near future.

He is looking forward to another tussle against Bedford and the chance to come up against Nic Strauss - a formidable opponent and a right royal pain in the backside - with whom he played a bit of 7-a-side during his early years. Mind you, Saturday might be taken a little more seriously than a tournament in the sun-drenched tax haven of the Cayman Islands.

A win on this weekend will put us one step closer to a Twickenham final. This is something Mark has already experienced. On the day that Saints played Gloucester, Mark was on duty for Old Alleynians in the Powergen Junior Vase. Unlike Saints, he came away a winner. Mark was a student at the time and had done a fair bit of travelling up and down from Nottingham to earn a place in the side for the final. He arrived at headquarters straight from a geography field trip...in Majorca, Mark? Are you sure?

Looking to the future with the seemingly weekly announcements of new players arriving and existing players re-signing, it seems as though the squad will be considerably stronger if and when the challenge of the Premiership comes round. With two seasoned back-rowers from Ulster joining the squad there will be tremendous competition for the starting places. With the arrival of Wilson and Best we really will be able to see if Hopley and Easter are up to the mark.

When it comes to topping up the coffers of the VAT man, Mark has chosen chocolate caramel digestives - something else that he and Hoppers have in common.

arw

21.02.2008

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