TABARD 19 St Albans 10 – London League 2 North West

In an unexciting encounter at Cobden Hill on Saturday Tabard ran in three tries to St Albans two and ended up the victors by 19 points to 10.

Tabard were on top in the set scrums thanks to a fine performance by the front five and, although Tabard never really looked like losing they never got their game going and, with both sides making mistakes the game was more like an end of season affair than a local derby.

Tabard did start well however, with the first try coming in five minutes. From a scrum number 8 Scott Stoba picked up and fed scrum half Andy Murphy, who in turn fed wing Neil Hopcroft who was stopped short but the ball was re-cycled and full back Joe Cunningham powered through for the try.

The game then settled down with both sides having their fair share of possession but St Albans failed to convert their possession into points and when one of their attacks faltered just inside the Tabard half, Tabard’s counter attack saw Hopcroft running in 40 metres for a fine try which stand off Jack Reilly converted.

Although both sides again tried to utilise their possession there was no further score before half time and the teams turned round with Tabard 12 points to nil ahead.

Just after the turn round St Albans finally got the scoreboard moving when after early pressure on the Tabard defence the ball was passed quickly through the hands and front row Kilgannon was over for the score. The game then settled down again but Tabard’s mastery in the scrum was always going to tell and it was from scrum possession that Tabard were stopped short but the ball was re-cycled and Murphy was over for a well taken try that Reilly converted.

As the game drew to a close St Albans again mounted an attack on the Tabard line and this time their Hooker, Lemiere, forced his way through for the try to bring up the final score of Tabard 19 points, St Albans 10.

Team: Cunningham, Roberts, Thomas, Taylor-Davies, Hopcroft, Reilly, Murphy, Like B, O’Neill, Lake W, Barrow, Kidd, O’Connor, Calnan and Stoba.

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