Uxbridge denied in final minutes against dogged Cuffley team

Slow start proves costly from Uxbridge as second half tries not enough to prevent 22-17 defeat.

On the first truly cold and wet afternoon of the season Uxbridge hosted a Cuffley side, renowned for their large pack and forward domination.

Their game plan was no different this time as they took the game to Uxbridge, crashing over their first try from a couple yards and their second as a result of a kind bounce following a kick in behind the Bridge defence.

Uxbridge started to get a foothold in the game with good break from midfielders Isaac Williams, Tom Rainey, wing Stefan Manners and fly-half Will Searle. As the half time whistle approaches and after 10 minutes of sieging the Cuffley line, Sam Dillamore crashed over for Bridge to open the scoring.

After words were said at half-time that the home side had more to give, Bridge came out into the second half with those words ringing in their ears, and scored almost immediately as a break down the right-hand side found Matt Cowper in space to slide over. Mark Wils added the extras.

Cuffley then replied in turn following a stolen lineout before 10 minutes later Searle danced his way through the Cuffley back-line to add the home sides third of the afternoon.

As the final whistle drew nearer and with 5 points in the game Bridge rallied to find a try-bonus point and win. Despite hammering the line and Dan Evans judging to have not scored, the resulting 5 metre scrum Uxbridge were deemed to have infringed at and the penalty went against them to take the final score to 22-17.

Next week Uxbridge First XV take on Streatham and Croydon in the National Cup (Away-15:00) and the second team take on Bulldog Flyers at home (K.O- 3pm). All players are asked to declare their availability and try to make themselves available.