East London inflicted West Norfolk’s heaviest home defeat of the season with a 15-50 crushing away victory on Saturday (11 February) that moved them clear in third place in the London 3 North East division.
The victory however was soured when right wing Sean Curd suffered a dislocated right shoulder when completing his hat-trick of tries. The team's joint leading try scorer with 12 will be ruled out for the remainder of the season.
East London had the lead as early as two minutes. A penalty kick took the visitors to the five-metre line. The lineout catch was taken and the ball worked to outside centre Andrew Little who scored under the posts. Fly-half Alan Ferguson converted.
With the referee constantly penalising the visitors, the home side narrowed the gap with a successful penalty kick on ten minutes and then they took an 8-7 lead with a scrappy try six minutes later.
It only served to spur East London on and from a lineout in the left corner, the ball was passed along the backs for Curd to score his first try on 22 minutes. The conversion was missed. Three minutes later Little scored his second try with an individual effort that saw him skip past three tackles. Ferguson converted.
The bonus point for scoring four tries was secured on the stroke of half-time. A cheeky kick by inside centre Jono George over the advancing West Norfolk defenders was eventually gathered by Curd who scored his second try. Ferguson added the conversion for an 8-26 lead at the break.
Daniel Bracken was introduced from the bench at half-time and his impact at number eight was instant. On 45 minutes he carried to the left corner and the ball was offloaded to scrum-half Alex Mylchreest to score with Ferguson adding the conversion.
East London lost Curd on 56 minutes. In the process of scoring his third try with a dash into the right corner, contact with the ground and the last defender saw him injured, resulting in a trip to hospital for his right shoulder to be popped back into place. The conversion was missed.
The visitors conceded a sloppy try on 62 minutes but had scored again ten minutes later. West Norfolk had no answer to a dominant surge by the East London from a scrum right of the posts and a penalty try was awarded. Ferguson converted.
As the end of the match approached blindside flanker Rob Yiannakou picked up and bulldozed his way over from ten metres out, leaving the home full back flat on his back in the process.
East London are now third in the league table, seven points ahead of fourth place Southwold with a game in hand. They remain seven behind second placed Wanstead having played a game fewer and ten behind leaders Harlow on the same number of matches. Both teams are still to visit the Memorial Ground in West Ham and play each other on Saturday. East London host Ely.
Coach Gary Pearmain said: “It’s still very tight at the top and we’ll be giving it our all in the remaining games. Unfortunately we do so without Sean Curd but we wish him a speedy recovery.”
East London 1st XV vs West Norfolk: 1. Gary Pearmain; 2. Sam Amres-Reddin; 3. Sam Corbett; 4. Adrian Samuel; 5. Oliver Hillyer-Riley; 6. Rob Yiannakou; 7. Ed Brown; 8. Nick Parrott; 9. Alex Mylchreest; 10. Alan Ferguson; 11. Will Brown; 12. Jono George; 13. Andrew Little; 14. Sean Curd; 15. Daryl O’Brien. Replacements: 16. Chris Hodgson; 17. Dan Bracken; 18. Ryan Billinghurst.
In other matches on Saturday, East London’s second team the Wyverns lost 15-0 away at Eton Manor 2s. East London 3s lost 44-10 away at Southend 5s. On Sunday East London Ladies beat Tabard Ladies 50-0.