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OAs vs London South Africa
(6th January 2007)
LSA - 14 [2T - 2C]
Old Alleynians - 15 [T: Hartley, Fison; C: Docherty; P: Docherty]
Old Alleynian's travelled south to Imber Court, home of the Met Police,
on Saturday for their latest Surrey One league encounter. LSA had only
suffered one home defeat all season to Old Wellingtonians, but Old
Alleynian's travelled with confidence on the back of an encouraging
display against the hosts back in November, when the scoreline was
somewhat flattering.
In wet and windy conditions Old Alleynian's started strongly and opened
the scoring with a penalty after ten minutes. The Old Alleynian's pack
was holding its own against the bigger home pack and the set piece was
functioning well. Concerted pressure on the home line led to a
converted try when Hartley hit a good line and dived over unopposed.
With the wind at the Old Alleynian's backs, it certainly was not a day
for running rugby, and they endeavoured to kick for territory regularly.
LSA opted to run the ball wherever possible though, but with the defence generally holding strong, it brought about numerous errors from the hosts. The scoreline remained 10-0 at half time but with the easier of the conditions over.
The half time lead soon evaporated into a four point deficit within ten
minutes of the interval. The game started to break up and with strong
running from the LSA backs, two converted tries were conceded. The game was in the balance, with Old Alleynian's struggling to generate any field position against the strong wind. Resolute defence held the try line intact against the best efforts of the LSA pack.
At 14-10 up with ten minutes remaining LSA missed an eminently kickable penalty which would probably have at least guaranteed a draw. From the restart Old Alleynian's made their only visit to the LSA half of the
second period. A break from Kent led to a penalty for killing the ball.
A kick to the corner was driven inches short of the line, until a LSA
hand turned the ball over. It looked like LSA had escaped until a
wayward pass from the scrum half was pounced upon in the dead ball area by Pete Fison to seal a memorable win.
It was not the prettiest of matches but Old Alleynian's adapted better
to the conditions, matched their bigger pack and deserved the victory.
Next up, Old Emanuel at home, this Saturday, 13th January - with the past players in full-voice I'm sure.
Team: Dennis Yearwood
, Alex White
, Kobie Van der Westhuizen
, Bart Thomas
, Joe Richardson
, Hugh Michel
, Giles Burris
, Tom Harding
, Phil Kent
, Jamie Docherty
, Mike Thomas
, Andrew Ross
, John Hartley (c)
, James Pass
, Mark Robertson
Subs:
Pete Fison
, Simon Juuko
, Barry McElduff
Click here for the opposition's match report
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