1st XV match reports |
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| September 3rd 2005 |
Powergen National Trophy Round 1 |
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London Scottish 35 Chingford 0 This was a comfortable win for Scottish against a plucky Chingford side who organised and defended well, but who only twice, and late on, threatened to trouble the scorers. However two early injuries disrupted not only the game plan but also the early season plan. Scrum half David Gaule, recruited from Bracknell, lasted five minutes before heading for hospital and returning with a cast on his broken hand, which will cause him to miss 4-6 weeks, and player-coach Rory Greenslade-Jones (ex Pontypridd, Gloucester and London Welsh) only managed to give us 12 minutes of his Premiership experience before tweaking a hamstring. Not surprisingly, Scottish took their foot off the pedal in the second half, failing to add to their four tries (three converted) and three penalties in the final 25 minutes as the game petered out. Till then, however, Scottish demonstrated that the reinforced pack is a force to be reckoned with. Chingford sailed through last season unbeaten in London 3 North East and won the Essex Cup, and will challenge for honours in London 2 North this season. But against the home pack they several times went backwards, and Scottish also re-deployed the driving maul - so effective last season. New faces up front were Cornishman Lee Soper in the second row, whose lineout dominance and all round vigour showed why he has represented English Counties against the likes of Romania A, and also the Army, and Alex Alesbrook, ex Leicester by way of Harlequins and London Welsh . Also on show were 22-year-old Tom Williams at fly half who joined from Ealing after an injury-ruined season, Matt Vines, the new full back who is also a recruit from Welsh, and another Bracknell player Stuart Peel. Callum Morris has also returned after finishing his studies in Newcastle. Chingford’s Bond missed an early penalty attempt, but from that moment Scottish assumed full control. Though the first quarter was disrupted by injuries forcing off first Gaule and then Greenslade-Jones, Williams calmly slotted three penalties for a 9-0 lead. The first try took more than half an hour to arrive though, as several moves broke down owing to the sort of early season communication problems all sides suffer. When it finally came it was simplicity itself, a good move involving Vines and Fraser Smeaton creating a huge gap on the left for Alesbrook to run in a debut score. By half time the lead had been stretched to 23-0 . Bishop found Williams from a good attacking scrum, and the fly half feinted to break the line and then sent in Peel for the score which Williams then converted. Vines himself became the third debutant to score when he collected a perfect blind pop-pass from Williams after a lineout catch and drive had gobbled up 25 yards and more of visitors ground. Williams missed this conversion from wide on the right, his only failure from seven attempts, but had no problem from nearer in when a driving maul propelled Mat Johnson over for the fourth try. Morris made a terrific break but failed to find a scoring pass, and Smeaton had a good chance in the corner but was tackled into touch as he dived. Chingford rallied and pressed the home line, spurning two half chances but eventually Scottish reasserted themselves and preserved the nil against. Paul McFarland 15. Matt Vines (Luke Stack, 65 minutes), 14. Callum Morris, 13. Rory Greenslade-Jones (Fraser Smeaton, 12), 12. Josh Heke, 11. Stuart Peel, 10. Tom Williams, 9. David Gaule (Edd Bishop, 5), 1. Mat Johnson, 2. Paul Byford, 3. Allan Stewart (David Box, 50), 4. Lee Soper, 5. Clynton Jancke (Will Hensley, 50), 6. Alex Alesbrook, 7. James Templeman (David Watt, 50), 8. Karl Hensley (Capt) Scorers: Tries: Alesbrook, Peel, Vines, Johnson; Cons: Williams 3; Pens: Williams 3 |
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