Their opponents – neighbours Barking and Dagenham Bulldogs – have also recently impressed with a surge of new participants with both teams performing with great sportsmanship and respect. Above all, the quality of the game was of a great standard with a number of positives including; ball carrying, teamwork, and defensive skills that would be a suitable match for many Rugby League teams.

The game started with Newham kicking to their opponents, and quickly the team were keen to engage in strong physical defence. Their valiant efforts were twice damaged early on though, as the Bulldogs sterling Pellumi ran two fantastic tries that saw him escape rapidly down the wing - with an emphatic crowd to spur him on. The extras narrowly wide, but in the conditions the young kicker held great composure.

The Dockers were commendably mature in their attitude towards the quickly formed deficit, with players asking questions to and fro about their tactics and technique. This was a fantastic sight considering they had never even met before the game. This soon transferred into some clever attacking play with pace man Bob Awazi having a great run through the defence, only to be caught short. Enjoying possession close to the try line, it took strength and courage for captain Zac Shagourie to storm over for a first Newham Dockers try, Cesario Mendez adding the extra points making the score 8 – 6 to the bulldogs.

The game slowly began to nurture the effects of treacherous conditions as the rain fell and winds picked up, however the bulldogs remained calm and collective as they began a hot pursuit of lengthy attacking runs and intelligent passing play. With a man down through injury – a special mention has to made for Charlie Hagger who showed great sportsmanship in playing for the opposition to keep the game 13 a side – a commendable feat for a first visit to the club.

After the break, the bulldogs attacking flair continued and were soon a good number of points ahead. Their most notable attacking unit was No. 18 Kane – closely winning the games Man of the Match for the Bulldogs. His strength in both attack and defence proved a great challenge for the Dockers, yet the Green Machine did not retreat. They were clever to use their own advantages and with help from Raj Joshi, Elijah Marshall and Rayyan Sadiq– kassy sanogo was gratefully assisted in their final approach to the line and finishing well below the posts, again Mendez added the extras. The score now 28 – 14.

Both teams were eager to finish on high quality Rugby League, and both delivered their ambitions with countless attacks that were met with fearless defence, in particular the Dockers rather enjoyed the challenge with young Ashraf Ahmed putting in some fantastic tackles towards the end. The bulldogs did break through, which was hard felt by the green machine as they had worked very hard to deter any further points. However, with such great efforts in attack, the Dockers were again soon over the try line, again Shagourie – named Dockers Man of the Match – with his second try of the game. The final Score 34 – 20.

Coach Ashley Greaves was positive of the day, saying “At this early stage for the U12s, it was fantastic to see such qualities of sportsmanship and respect for all. The lads were brilliant today, and it was great to see so many of them so keen to be involved. I am glad that the team gained such enjoyment from the game, and am enthusiastic to take these boys into a journey of Rugby League that can only have huge success. The task now begins to have the team training weekly as we prepare for further challenges from London’s Rugby League community”.

For anybody interested in joining, or finding out more about Rugby League at the Newham Dockers, please contact Ashley on the following contact details;

Mobile: 07712 895967
Email: Ashley.greaves@londonbroncosrl.com
BBM: 2851CE7B