OPs beat Fullerians at Perivale

The OPs battled struggling Fullerians on Saturday. The two sides play very different brands of rugby which bore out two contrasting games last season with a 31-10 loss in Watford followed up by a 50-10 win in January.

The first five minutes was a whirlwind start with OPs scoring inside 30 seconds through David Wilkie. However, by the time 90 seconds had elapsed the OPs had also lost two of their starting back row to injury. Influential Joe Wellings left with a lacerated eye lid in the first ruck and George Majstorovic soon following with a hamstring injury. To add insult to injury, Fullerians scored soon after using pick and go to good effect. 7-5 to the home side.

The OPs looked very dangerous with the ball and were making plenty of half breaks thanks to aggressive running and intelligent passing. They weren’t quite able to make the most of it due to good defence, refereeing decisions and small errors. As it was, they settled to take 3 points with an Aristide Goualin penalty. The pressure was building, however, and as the half went on the OPs added to their lead through James Booth following an excellent outside break by Jack Dever.

Fullerians were up next to score, their scrum proving dominant as expected and they were able to score a crucial push over try to take the game to 15-12. With half time approaching, OPs tied together some good phases to release David Howe to score in the corner for a 22-12 lead.

The second half never quite opened up in the way the OPs would have liked. Scrum penalties stalled plenty of momentum with the referee’s whistle becoming more prominent in open play too. Fullerians were first to score, working the ball well to make the most of an overlap to take the game to 22-19. OPs then had two tries disallowed, one for a forward pass and the other a harsh penalty saying the OP player didn’t release the ball even though it seemed clear the tackler wasn’t able to hold on beyond the initial contact. With 15 mins remaining, Fullerians took the lead for the first time in the game, 22-24. The OPs struck back within just a couple of minutes. Attacking from deep in their own half, David Wilkie set off on an excellent outside break using footwork and power before timing an excellent offload for Elvin Grant to power through an attempted tackle and take the score to 29-24. The remainder of the game was a tense affair, the OPs making good ground before forcing it slightly and having to deal with another scrum.

Yet again the OPs managed to squeeze out a narrow win in a scrappy game to take them to 5-4 overall ahead of a much needed week off. This was especially impressive given two more early injuries and the match day squad was able to show some grit to go the distance in a physical encounter.

Damo Langley Award: Eloi Durand

Joe Codrington Award: James Booth