CS Rugby officially turns 150 in just under three weeks' time and this was as good an early birthday present as they could have hoped for.

Whilst the Duke's Meadows, Chiswick based side were - as Civil Service - one of the founder members of the Rugby Football Union, for the last decade and more it has been their Barnes neighbours who have enjoyed superior status on-field , operating at times as high as National 2 South.

Saturday's conclusive result in the Stags' favour in National 3 London & South East in a match brought forward to avoid Christmas complications meant an early home and away double for the team from the Middlesex side of the river and arguably the right to claim to be the best junior side in London.

That result would have been very difficult to predict when Barnes controlled possession for all of the first seven minutes of the game, including a 35 phase spell leading to a seemingly inevitable score.

The script soon changed dramatically, however. By half-time CS were leading 24-12 and tries from wing Jon Webber, full back James Houstoun, centre Stuart Peel and wing Freddie Taylor had already delivered a bonus point. Barnes' forwards were a sturdy unit but when it came to creative back play there was really only one team in it.

Three penalties from fly-half Scott Hadden, whose father Frank the ex- Scotland coach had assisted head coach, Gareth Jordan in the previous Thursday's training, punished multiple Barnes' indiscretions in the first ten minutes of the second period and effectively put matters way beyond Barnes' reach although there was still half an hour of the game to go.

The sides then shared four further tries as the entertainment continued with forwards, Chris Endersby and Sam Glasson wrapping things up for the Stags and Barnes securing a four try bonus point themselves as some small compensation for all their forwards' efforts , the last a second Barnes' pushover with yellow cards having by then reduced the home pack to seven as against their visitors' six!

It had been a day for those in the open spaces, not in the dark recesses of the scrummage, to have the real fun though.

CS Rugby 1863 scorers:

Tries:

Webber
Houstoun
Peel
Taylor
Glasson

Cons:

Haddon (3)

Pens:

Haddon (3)