Streatham-Croydon rounded off their Surrey Two season with a thumping 17-0 win over Old Rutlishians.

A game played in a blizzard and on a pitch that has coped admirably with nearly a year of non-stop rain remained remarkably entertaining as both sides played with a quality that augurs well for next season.

Streatham started out as favourites despite their four match losing streak, as they had beaten Old Ruts convincingly away earlier in the season 27-15.

It was clear from the early exchanges that the recent defeats had not had an effect on their confidence as they dominated early territory and possession and played with a directness and accuracy that was admirable given the snowstorm raging all around them.

The early dominance was reflected in the scoreline as a break from impressive centre Conor Kelly resulted in a try for flanker Tom Watson, converted by fly-half Chris Geary to give Streatham a 7-0 lead with a quarter of an hour gone.

That was how it was to remain though until half-time and indeed until five minutes before the referee’s final whistle. Before that Streatham had opened up a resilient Old Ruts defence on a few occasions, with full-back Kai Cassemis heavily involved and showing why he is so highly rated by the club’s coaches. A daring break out of their own half before half-time eventually came to nothing but the crowd were appreciative of the way Streatham were trying to play.

With the wind behind them in the second half Old Ruts did make it into the Streatham 22 for the first time in the game as the home side started to leak penalties.

The Streatham lineout had struggled all game but an outstanding defence refused to give the visitors a sniff of the try-line. Eventually some storming surges by Olly Goldsmith and Simon Hampton dragged the hosts upfield and there they camped for the rest of the half.

Streatham scored their second try after Geary – who had controlled proceedings along with half-back partner Dan Markevics – gave up on trying to run through Old Ruts and instead sent a grubber kick through; only a lengthy conversation between Geary and winger Vincent Auguiste about who should dab the ball down over the tryline could have prevented a try but Geary wasn’t in a chatty mood so claimed the try himself.

After seeing the tactic work so well once, Auguiste decided to repeat the feat and was rewarded with a try of his own as Streatham finished the game – and their competitive season – strongly.

Streatham will finish fourth in Surrey 2 as long as Law Society don’t beat Worth Old Boys with four tries in their last game next month.

It will be a fair reflection on what has been overall an excellent season back at this level for the first time in a few years. After trouncing most of the teams put in front of them in Surrey 3 & 4 over the last few years the shock of playing teams that competed with Streatham’s power and dynamism meant they didn’t have the experience of winning those crucial tight affairs.