1st XV - Lancers
Matches
Sat 10 Nov 2018
Southwark Rugby
1st XV - Lancers
34
15
New Ash Green
Southwark Lancers ascendant against New Ash Green

Southwark Lancers ascendant against New Ash Green

Chris Callaway14 Nov 2018 - 09:34
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34-15 victory comes only a day after their last fixture

(Saturday 10 Nov, Burgess Park, by Daniel Nolan)

Despite a jam-packed schedule between league and cup fixtures, Southwark Lancers were able to manage a resounding 34-15 victory against New Ash Green at Burgess Park on Saturday afternoon. Lancers coach Joe Brace praised his side’s resiliency after a hard-fought win: ‘I’m really proud of the way the lads played today. Over half the squad had played a game 18 hours previous, and we had a lot of players out of position - so to come away with 5 points really shows the strength in depth this club is building’

Coming off a 53-3 league victory against Sheppey last weekend, and still recovering from a torpid loss in the cup against Dartford Valley on Friday, Lancers were seeking to rekindle their offensive momentum for a re-arranged league tie against New Ash Green on Saturday afternoon. Lancers were on their way to comprehensively beating the visitors two weeks prior - running the score up to 52-7, before an injury for the visiting side ended the game short of a final result.

The match got off to a cagey start, and injuries in the first few minutes stifled the pace of the game – Southwark’s centre requiring prompt assistance from the medical services with a nasty arm injury, sustained while defending an early spell of offensive pressure. The match remained deadlocked for 20 minutes, until New Ash Green won a converted penalty kick directly in front of the posts for a hard-earned three points.

As Lancers coach Brace called for his players to play to hands, Southwark fired back quickly with a try to take a 7-3 lead. The squad began to exhibit some excellent passing and running, and were unfortunate to be denied two tries by penalty calls - though were able to convert a penalty themselves to make the score 10-3 with five minutes left in the half. The break didn’t come before New Ash Green put five points on the board with their best attacking play of the match: sending their lock marauding over the line to push the score close to level at the break.

At a bright restart, despite impending rain and dark, Southwark exerted impressive defensive pressure to foil a series of lineouts. Avoiding getting bogged down in a set piece series, some more adventurous passing down the line punctuated with soft hands and hard running yielded a key try for Southwark’s 14 – Lancers exploiting the wing as in many games prior this season.

Southwark stretched out their line to execute this strategy time and again, with another try from the wing coming only five minutes later to push their lead to 24-8 – and showing concerted defence to win the ball back on the restart and convert another penalty to push their score to 27.

The game became a push for a crucial fourth try and a potential bonus point and, as the clock ran down, one final drive down the wing yielded Southwark’s reward – allowing one consolation try at the death to produce a 34-15 final score.

Looking ahead to their next fixture, coach Brace stated: ‘We are all excited to be going up against Ashford next week, and are confident we can be the first team to beat them this season’. Lancers return to Burgess Park on 1 Dec, up against Royal Bank Of Scotland in a Shepherd Neame Kent 1 league tie.

Match details

Match date

Sat 10 Nov 2018

Kickoff

14:00
Team overview
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Senior Sponsor - PhillipCapital UK
Shirt Sponsor - Southwark Metals