East London Rugby Club

Rochford 5 East London 56

East London Wyverns travelled to Rochford with what looked on paper, like a depleted 15. However, as soon as the team took to the field, it was apparent that those who had stepped up from the third team to fill the gaps had come up to claim a place in the two's. Notable performances from John Wright, Samuel Green and Nick Parrot saw East London's recent form continue against a spirited Rochford team. The highlights of the game were five tries for wing flyer Kwesi Scantlebury, two for Iain Gordon playing out of position at 13 and one for Samuel Green. John Higginson converted them all. Man of the Match was John Walker for a strong display of straight running from 12 and being unusually creative in mid-field. A great result for the Wyverns, still on course with 8 tries, 8 conversions and 8 wins from 8.

East London 45 - 19 Maldon
(Tries: Anderson 2, Eve 2, Salmon, Bracken, Alexander. Cons: Gonse 5)

East London recorded their first victory over Maldon in a number of years after a patchy performance at the Memorial Ground.
The first-half was an error-strewn affair as both sides squandered scoring opportunities and East London failed to implement any of their game plan-only the impressive kicking of Gonse and last-ditch defending of Abwamzo kept Maldon at bay. Both sides did manage a try with Sam Alexander going over for the home side in reply to a well-worked Maldon score. The visitors probably deserved their slender 7-5 lead at half-time.

Some stern words at half-time from coach Sawford and skipper Pilkington seemed to do the trick and East London started the second half a transformed team. The forwards began to assert themselves in both attack and defence and the backs suddenly seemed accurate and confident with the ball in hand. It was Anderson on the right wing who put the home side in the lead after winning the race to collect Lawrences kick before an impressive display of handling from the increasingly dominant pack enabled left-winger Salmon to scamper over in the corner.

East London then discovered their ruthless streak as a platform of aggressive defence and strong ball carrying in all areas of the pitch resulted in three more quick tries-a second for Anderson, one for Eve and one from a bullocking Bracken run to the line. Gonse continued to add the extras before Eve rounded out the home teams scoring with his second for the day.

The spirited Maldon side did add two late scores as the home side seemed to want the game to finish after 75 minutes rather than 80 but it would have no effect on the end result. East London will now have to replicate the 30 minutes of good rugby that they managed over the full 80 if they plan to get anything from their game at Clacton next weekend.