That's saturday afternoons spoken for for a while!

The rugby season is underway again. Due to having various other plans this month Ben has missed the first four matches for his team, but hopes to make most of the rest. As often as I can, I go along armed with the camera gear and get some pictures of the action. It's great fun, and the more you learn about the game the easier the photo-taking becomes, as you learn to predict what might happen next.

I shoot with the fabulous 70-200mm lens on the 40D as a rule, occasionally taking the 300mm along with the 20D body if I suspect my movement might be restricted a bit - that way if I can only shoot from a set position in the middle of the touchline, for example, I can still get some decent shots. Ideally though I follow the action up and down a fair bit, from one end to the other - it's easier if we're playing well enough that it doesn't move too far from the try-line though! I do wonder what the other teams think when the harlow lads turn up complete with "photographer"!

Yesterdays match involved a 150 mile round trip up to March in Cambridgeshire  - the furthest distance we will have to travel for a match this season thankfully. Sadly the days of being in a league with lots of really local opponents are over, and almost everywhere involves a bit of a drive - on the plus side though we do get to visit both Ely & Saffron Walden, both lovely places in their own right.

The result yesterday went firmly in our favour, with the boys walking away with a 54 - 6 win. the majority of our points were scored from trys and convertions too, rather than the boring spectacle you can end up with when the scoreline is mostly from penalties. The opposition learn pretty quickly that they didn't stand much of a chance against our lads in a scrum, although that knowledge didn't help them much as we ended up with plenty of scrums. This is where the Harlow guys teamwork and extensive summer training comes into its own as each member of the pack knows exactly what's expected of them and when to start driving it forwards. great to watch, and photograph!

Well done to the Saints - bring on Cambourne next saturday!

Robyn