Saturday 25th January 2003

Old Alleynians 7 London Cornish 17

Surrey 2

The tremendous performance of the previous week was always going to be a hard act to follow and considering the ground was underwater on Tuesday, the pitch was soggy, but playable. The OAs line up featured many changes from the 18th, with Hanna, Easter, Nurse, Burris and Sandars all unavailable. The pack saw a change of props with Jonas Jaanimagi and Matt Frankfurt both starting. Tom Harding made a return to the back row after injury.

The OAs began the game brightly, spending much of the first 10 minutes camped around the opposition 22. Despite coming close on several occasions, a try proved elusive following a number of knock-ons and other errors. London Cornish were eventually the first to capitalise, breaking through the OAs defence, dodging tackles and eventually touching down to the left of the posts. The try was duly converted, 0-7 and the Blues had some work to do.

And work they did. Continuing their pressure from early on the Alleynians continued to play well in spells. A try-stopping foul from London Cornish saw a man sin-binned. Less than 5 minutes later Tim Dux was fouled on the line and a penalty try was awarded by the referee. Lawrence Dilworth slotted in the conversion with apparent ease and scores were levelled.

An injury to Chris Parke saw sub Marcus Whyte brought on, not into his usual position of prop, but on the wing.

In the second half the OA pack had spells of magnificent rucking, developing phase after phase of hard, driving rugby. Unfortunately, these explosive spells of play did not produce the points needed to give OAs the lead. Neither were they consistent. Captain James Franklin suffered a knee injury and Nick Hickman was brought on to take over hooking duties. Cameron McVean was later replaced by David Wickes.

London Cornish scored another converted try and a penalty leaving the Alleynians needing 10 points to draw level. However, despite some wonderful surging runs by Marcus Whyte it was not meant to be.

In all the OAs looked a shadow of themselves compared to the week before but hopefully the side can learn from the mistakes this week and revive themselves, particularly before the Quarter Final of the Junior Vase against Hitchen.

OA Squad:

Forwards: Jonas Jaanimagi, James Franklin, Mathew Frankfurt, Hugh Michel, Mathew Vale, Tom Harding, Rob Broomhead, Alex Thompson

Backs: Ed Hartigan, Lawrence Dilworth, Kinglsey Mbanazue, Mike Joy, Cameron McVean, Chris Parke, Tim Dux

Subs: Marcus Whyte, Nick Hickman, David Wickes