Esher Priors Pack A Punch

Although nominally the second meeting of these sides this season, in fact it was the first time the teams had locked horns since back in October before the scheduled visit to Esher King’s found themselves were riddled with unavailability and injury and were left with no choice except to gift a home walkover. The ‘Priors’ are well known to King’s, the two having been alongside one another in league rugby for four successive seasons. At Motspur Park the games are unpredictable, the sides drew 5-5 in 2013, Esher won 39-14 in 2014 but in their most recent encounter, in March 2015, King’s prevailed 56-26. Looking at the 2015-16 campaign Esher are going well with eight wins set against three losses. King’s were going to have to be at their best if they wanted to increase the losing tally to four.

From the whistle it was obvious that Esher were a serious proposition and the girth on display in the visitors’ forwards meant King’s were constantly required to over-commit at the breakdown to maintain parity. With the extra space afforded to their backs due to the King’s back-row scrapping in and around the breakdown, Esher’s half-backs kicked sensibly asking questions of the King’s back three. It was no surprise therefore that Esher were the first to cross the whitewash and a fine touchline conversion followed; 0-7.

For the ensuing twenty minutes King’s began to gain traction and showed glimpses of their attacking intent although both teams were guilty of some aimless aerial tennis. With half and hour gone Esher made King’s pay for their bluntness in attack, a second try scored out wide, although this one was not improved; 0-12. King’s were, at last, galvanised and captain on the day James Grabowski led the charge towards Esher’s in-goal area only to be thwarted by a knock-on. King’s were not to be denied though and on 38mins debutante Andrew Smylie crossed, put in by Grabowski after a well engineered overlap was constructed. Neil Williams struck an excellent conversion; 7-12.

Half-time: 7-12

King’s had reason to be encouraged by their first half showing and whilst giving away several stone a man, they had performed tenaciously. There was no escaping the scoreboard though and Esher wasted little time in stretching their lead as after a period of sustained pressure King’s were turned over at close-quarters in trying to escape their line from the back of a 5m scrum, the visitors No.8 collecting a poacher’s try; 7-19.

The remainder to half was largely a stalemate as King’s tried all that they could to breach the Esher defence, but the men in black and yellow were frustratingly resolute and as it was Esher were able to extend their lead with a penalty; 7 – 22. With just five minutes to play King’s continued to probe for a scoring opportunity of their own, but were turned over on halfway and the visitors were able to run in a fourth try past tired defenders. The conversion in front of the posts could not be missed; 7-29. Neither team were able to muster any more action of note in the time that remained.

Whilst plainly disappointing there was no shame for the 2XV in losing to a team that could well win this league - Esher play London Exiles on 20th Feburary in a game that will surely decide whether the title goes to Barnes or to Molesey Road. Today marked the first loss in the Surrey Championship since November for the 2XV and there is no time to dwell on any disappointment as next week the side must go to local rivals Old Emanuel who always provide tough opposition.

Tries: Smylie

Conversions: Williams