London Nigerians 31 Tabard 17
– London League 2 North
Tabard
played really well on Saturday and looked as though they might reverse their seasons
fortunes, especially when they scored the opening try in
the second minute of the game. However, despite a solid performance their defence was just
lacking in crucial areas and in the end they were defeated by 31 points to 17 by London Nigerians.
Tabards
effort stemmed from a
solid performance up front against a
bigger pack. The return of Ben
Matheson from injury was significant but the star
of the show was tight head prop Chris Baker, who had
his best game of the season, both
in the set pieces and in the loose,
where his upper body strength paid
dividends for Tabard as he consistently wrestled the ball from his
opponents grasp.
It was the forwards
combined effort that set up
the first early try. From
a line out about 15 metres out
the forwards drove and set up good ball,
stand off Richard Woodard then gave centre Michael Thomas a perfectly timed
pass and Thomas’s strength enabled him to power over the line from 20 metres
out. Woodard added the conversion to give Tabard an early lead.
The Tabard
jinx then struck again. In a rare foray into Tabard territory a
clearance kick was charged down and Nigerians wing Obuaya
was over for
the score which stand off small
converted. Although Tabard had much the
better of the territory and the possession it was Nigerians stand off Small who gave the
Nigerians the win by setting up their next tries. Firstly he ghosted through the drifting defence to put Obuaya
through for his second try and then he
set centre Olufunwa up for the score with an
inside pass. Small also converted both tries to put Tabard 21
points to seven adrift.
Then Tabard again showed a
hungriness to score. First of all the forwards again battled upfield and from a lineout near to the Nigerians line a
powerful drive took the pack over the try line for second row John Crocker to touch down. A minute later, almost out of the blue, scrum
half Francois Karstel found himself in space about thirty metres out. Without hesitation he sprinted through the
despairing cover
tackles for a magnificent score just on half time so the teams turned round with Tabard
just four points behind at 21 points to
17.
In the
second half it was the
same story, with Tabard having the better of the territory,
possession and exchanges up front and Nigerians Small spoiling Tabards hopes with a penalty kick and then,
near the end of the game, setting up
Nigerians fullback Shelleng for a try which he
converted to finally seal Tabards fate with a 31 points to 17 win.
Team: Orchard, Nansoz,
Thomas, Ashcroft, Hopcroft, Woodard, Karstel, Davey, Gates, Baker, Crocker, Visser,
Montague, Matheson and Stoba.
Nest week
Tabard have a tough home fixture against Staines, kick
off 2.15 pm at their Cobden Hill, Radlett ground.