OMT pace is too much for Saint's to handle!

St. Albans were forced to field a restructured side in their final league game of the season against hosts Old Merchant Taylors.

For the first twenty minutes Saint's looked threatening and kept up the pressure on the home side, after that OMT's discovered the formula to unlock the visitors defense. With a back line blessed with skill, pace and power it was a question of moving the ball quickly and giving the wingers their opportunity to out-flank the St. Albans cover.

That really was the script for the rest of the game with OMT running in twelve tries, however Saint's did play their part scoring five tries themselves and adding to the "end of term" atmosphere in the Spring sunshine.

Whilst St. Albans were without a number of key players, they did show great team spirit and worked hard to counter a very effective opposition. There were highlight's from a Saint's prospective, Harry Trude with a clever kick that found winger Tom Wicling who wrong footed the OMT defense and set up a try for St. Albans "man of the match" Dan Townson.

Jezza Walmsley managed to bag a brace of tries and fellow "Kiwi" Mike Bennet never stopped trying to batter his way through the oncoming OMT defense. Fraser Morris was again on the score sheet for St. Albans storming over for a great try late in the game. There must also be mention for the unsung hero's who stepped into the breach when the call came, Harry Toland, Oli Akurst, Duncan Sharpe and Jack McDonald all played their part and never gave up trying.

Craig Huddleston, Jack Ransome and Chris Jones made their presence felt and all have made great contributions over the course of the season. There was also comfort in the fact that a number of the younger players have made great strides in establishing themselves as 1st team regulars, Jack Middleton Jamie Hissey, Heemi Peina and Ross Taylor will be great assets for the seasons to come. Mention should also be made of young Will Alcott who managed to get injured in the pre-match warm-up and was unable to take part in the game.

Yesterday was also about farewells, sadly it was our last game in London NW2 as next year we will be facing old adversaries in NW3. It's also goodbye and thank you to Mike Bennet as he returns to his native New Zealand, along with Harry Trude who is tagging along , and no doubt he will come back a better player from his experiences in a land where they really do know how to play the game.

Whilst we cannot hide our disappointment at moving down a league there is always the challenge of next seasons rugby and the opportunity to rebuild and develop the potential that is St. Albans RFC.

Have a great summer!