Uxbridge advance to semi-finals of Floodlight Club

Uxbridge grind out win in boggy conditions to set up semi-final with Ruislip

Uxbridge fresh off the back of a win on Saturday on the road to West London made trod another short and well-worn path to Pinner in the first floodlit game of the season.

With conditions heavy underfoot, fast flowing rugby would be at a premium and it was the home side buoyed on by a healthy crowd who opened the scoring out-wide after hammering the Uxbridge line for a good ten minutes, despite some dogged defence.

Uxbridge found possession of the ball at a premium and despite good kicking from fly-half Nick Guy were unable to make serious inroads into the Pinner defence. The visitors made several mistakes over the next 10 minutes to allow Pinner to stretch their lead with two slotted penalties.

As the half wore on, Uxbridge managed to get a foothold and spend more time in the Pinner 22 and it was Guy who opened the scoring racing through to dot down. Sadly, the conversion was missed.

Uxbridge went in at half-time knowing improvement and after coaches Ron Matthews and John-Porter Griffiths laid down the law for the second half, Uxbridge went out attacking down a slight slope knowing improvement was needed.

They didn’t have long to wait as scrum half Ollie Seward began marshaling his troops feeding Guy and the backline as well as Tom Redrup, Adam Webster and Sam ‘Simmonds’ Dillamore to punch some holes in the Pinner defence.

Following a penalty conceded in the middle of the park, Uxbridge found themselves with an attacking line-out, which was secured by skipper Jake Lamport and driven forward for Webster to peel off the back and barge his way over.

The next tries came in quick succession for the visitors as they made the most of the penalties awarded with both Guy registering his second of the game following strong running from Simmonds/Dillamore and the recently returned mercurial Simon Batts registering his first of the season. Both conversions were successful as Uxbridge extended their lead.

Pinner replied with a penalty of their own and with five minutes remaining good work in the forwards unleashed the rampaging Simmonds/Dillamore down the right flank of drew his man and passed to James Malvenan to run in Uxbridge’s fifth try of the night out wide. The following conversion was missed and shortly after the referee blew his whistle for full time.

Uxbridge advance on into the semi-finals of the Floodlight Cup against Ruislip Second XV (Date- TBC) and have a rest this weekend with no games scheduled. The First XV return to action on Saturday 24 February (K.O-14:00) at home to Finsbury Park with the Second XV at away to Grasshoppers Third XV on Saturday 17 February (K.O- 14:30)