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BANCROFT 13 - EAST LONDON 50

BANCROFT 13 - EAST LONDON 50

Gary Bird7 Mar 2016 - 20:10
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Lead extended at top of the table

A 50-13 win away at Bancroft on Saturday (5 March) saw East London stretch their lead to six points at the top of Essex League 1 over rivals Ilford Wanderers.
The visitors took command from the off and had three tries on the board within 11 minutes. The first came on four minutes when skipper Nick Parrott took advantage after a rolling maul by the pack to score left of the posts. The score went unconverted.
Two minutes later and a charging run from prop Wes Royer saw the ball pass through the quick hands of centres Jono George and Sean Curd to Parrott who scored his second try in quick succession. Fly-half Kieran Oliver converted.
On 11 minutes a sublime sidestep from George bamboozled the Bancroft defence and the inside centre scored under the posts, which Oliver converted.
The home side scored their first points on 16 minutes with an unconverted try but then had a man yellow carded for not retreating ten metres from a penalty. Despite that, they kicked a penalty on 26 minutes but then had a second player yellow carded. East London took advantage and on 31 minutes from a catch and drive, second row Dean Marshall bundled over. The conversion was missed for a 22-8 lead at the break.
The visitors replaced number 8 Rob Herbert with Dan Bracken for the second-half and Bracken scored two tries with his first two touches of the ball. Within two minutes of the restart he picked up the ball from the base of a scrum and forced his way over from five metres out. Oliver converted from right of the posts. Bracken again scored three minutes later following a break down the right hand side, which Oliver again converted.
As a torrent of hailstones began to affect visibility for both sides, it didn’t stop George scoring his second try on 52 minutes when after being fed by Curd, he beat three defenders to touch down under the posts. Oliver converted.
Bancroft scored an unconverted try on 64 minutes before East London rounded off the scoring at the death. An attempted clearance by the home side was charged down by outside centre Curd on the 22-metre line. He picked up and outpaced the chasing home defence to score. George converted to bring up 50 points.
The five points for the win and try scoring bonus took East London to 44 points at the top of the table, reshaped into a mini-league for the second half of the season with the top teams playing each other. Nearest rivals Ilford only picked up four points after opponents Canvey Island failed to raise a team. They are six points behind with a game in hand.
East London have a break from league action on Saturday with a home fixture at the Memorial Ground, West Ham, against Braintree in the Essex President’s Shield competition. Kick-off is 3pm.
East London 1st XV vs Bancroft: Paddy Coman, Will Masters, Wes Royer, Billy Clayton, Dean Marshall, Brian Kennedy, Nick Parrott, Rob Herbert, Lucas Estevez, Kieran Oliver, Daryl O’Brien, Jono George, Sean Curd, Kenton Stanford, Sean Cooper, Replacements: Gary Pearmain, Dan Bracken, Tommy Little.
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