CALNE went into this friendly with not many expectations as they were treating it as a team building exercise due to the fact that they were fielding five new players that had really only played rugby at school and that their opponants hadn't been beaten this season.

From the kick off Calne were straight back into the Old Eds' half. piling on the pressure with the forwards winning good ball for the backs. Even in wet and slippery conditions Calne's backs decided to run with the ball with new centre Mike Smith linking up well.

Calne's first points came from a perfectly weighted kick and chase from flyhalf James Gladding who chased his own kick and scored the first try which was converted by Andy Donnagan. Calne kept the pressure on which ended in Old Ed's giving away a penalty which was also converted.

The Old Ed's then stepped up there game and turned the game into a very equal battle, winning their own set pieces and with their backs also running well they went over for the first of their trys in the corner. With more good line out work from new boys Tom Davis and solid scrummaging from Mark Salmon helped keep Calne in front at half time.

With the few changes made at half time to the Calne pack totally changed the structure of the game. Bringing on Trevor Wicks, Matthew Arnold and Mick McDaid really added some bulk to the scrum and they were now pushing Old Ed's off of their own ball and also allowed the driving maul to gain large amounts of territory with Peter McGarry dropping over the line for another try, also converted by Donnagan. Old Ed's started running the backs a lot more then and came back with a converted try of their own. After more pressure from Calne forcing Old Ed's to make mistakes gave Donnagan another penalty conversion.

Not letting up Calne kept ploughing through the opposition defence with back rowers Alan Wicks, Daron Thomas and centre Neil Young enjoying the amount of ball in hand they were having. Calne's last try came from a classic five metre scrum, with the pack driving well and perfect control at the back of the scrum Alan Wicks went over the line to score. Donnagan finished off his 100 per cent kicking record by converting.

Old Ed's then stepped up their game and scored two more deserved trys at the end, which thankfully was all they got due to the defence of Graham Neale and Mike Benson.

Skipper for the day Alan Wicks said he was obviously pleased with the win and that the referee having such a good game made the game even more enjoyable, but the best thing to come out of the day was how well the new players fitted in and played and that hopefully they will carry on playing.

He added: "We have more players now and selection is getting harder but then that's not a bad thing and hopefully it will encourage players to keep training to secure their place on a Saturday.''