London Welsh 7 Albion 55

By Ralph
December 5 2006

Albion take record away win since 2000 as they come away winners after their trip to Old Deer Park. A 10 try match!! (first report by Ralph)

 

London Welsh 7
Albion 55

Well what can I say about Saturdays match, it was a thriller. the score would suggest it was a walk over but that is not true. London Welsh as you will all remember came to Brickfields a short while ago and we struggled a bit to get the result and remember that they gave Leeds a hard time just a week ago.

I can honestly say that they competed well again on Saturday, but were hit by some scintillating play from Albion. With nine tries where do you start? To those of you who have been to Old Deer Park you will remember that the playing surface is a pitch lengths away from the club house, incidentally this means the away teams have almost 5 minutes walk from the changing to the pitch, whereas the home side have their changing rooms behind the main stand, it means, that by the time the away side get back to the changing rooms at half time it is all ready time to head back  to the pitch.

What it meant on Saturday was that there were some spectators who missed the first two tries scored by Albion. Straight from the kick off Albion were awarded a penalty, the ball was moved to Wihan Neethling who kicked ahead, Tom Arscott out ran the defence gathered and went in for the first try , Wihan missed what was a fairly easy conversion, at least it was easy from behind the barriers. 

3 or 4 minutes gone joy again a catch and drive move and Martin Rice touches down for a try which this time Wihan neatly converts. Before any one can catch their breath, Ed Barnes charges down a kick ahead, charges off down the field gathers and we are another 5 points up, Wihan converts and we are in heaven. 

Almost before there is time to stop slapping each other on the back another kick ahead is gathered by Wihan he off loads to Regardt van Eyk who sets off on the gallop and makes almost 50 metres for a try under the posts, incredibly Wihan fluffs his kick. No matter Albion have scored four tries and a bonus point is all ready in the bag. Another interesting thing, they are now ahead of the clock its 24 - 22. 

Quiet period now Welsh still trying but unable to make any good headway, in fact up to this point they have not reached Albion's 22. Welsh then penalised for pulling down a maul and one of their players is sin binned.

Albion kick straight for the corner, catch and drive move and Scott Zimmerman is in for his first try for the club, Wihan fails again with the conversion. Never mind points now ahead of the clock. 

Worse to come for Welsh after some good interplay between the backs Ed Lewsey passes and Nic Sestaret is over for Albion's 7th try and his 11th of the season, Wihan effort bounces off the post and back into play. Albion kept up the pressure in the last minutes of the half but were unable to get the points ahead of the clock. 

Half time score 34 - 0.

Second half started  with London Welsh putting on some great pressure, resulting in Ed Lewsey being sin binned for a professional foul, from the ensuing penalty Welsh got their only points of the match with a converted try. 

Albion went right back on the attack, and stormed into the Welsh half, after some good ball retention and handling Danny Thomas went over in the corner but it was adjudged that there had been a forward pass. No matter within minutes Albion then had catch and drive and Richard Oxley got the try which Mat Saumi converted. 

Another scrum on the 5 metre line resulted in Chris Lowrie getting his just rewards with a try, duly converted by van Eyk. Another scrum and this time Nigel Cane was diving in for a try which van Eyk again converted. 

The referee decides that will do and it's 7 - 55 to Albion. It was a great performance from all the team although Wihan was not too happy after the match, on the other hand Scott could not stop smiling. 

One little snippet for you, talking to Ed's brother we will not mention his name, but we turned down his offer, we just don't need him at the moment do we? 

 

Team: Wihan Neethling, Tom Arscott, Regardt Van Eyk, Keni Fisilau, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Martin Rice, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Colin Stewart, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie Replacements: Nigel Cane(used), Arran Cruickshanks(used), Nat Saumi(used), Tim Mathias(used), Francisco Deformes(used), James Owen(used), Brett Stroud(used)

Scorers :- Tries Chris Lowrie, Ed Barnes, Martin Rice, Nic Sestaret, Nigel Cane, Regardt Van Eyk, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Tom Arscott Conversions Ed Barnes, 2x Regardt Van Eyk, 2x Wihan Neethling