Murphy and Hopcroft touch down in defeat

London League 1 North

Tabard 12 Sidcup 39

TABARD couldn’t make it back-to-back wins as second placed Sidcup turned in an efficient performance to take the points.

After a shaky start Tabard defended well and the forwards put in their usual stalwart performance but some missed chances in the backs did not help the Tabard cause although centre Kieran Murphy was the Tabard star this week, solid in defence and making some good powerful breaks down the centre.

Tabard got off on the wrong foot. A loose upfield kick was fielded by the Sidcup wing, Amura, who was able to penetrate the Tabard defence, which had not got into position and score the opening try with just two minutes on the clock.

Fortunately, Tabard then pulled themselves together and, although Sidcup thought they were in for an easy ride, their powerful runners were stopped. However the pressure was too great and they then scored again when their stand-off Ubee came through to score under the posts and scrum half Ody converted.

Against the odds Tabard’s defence managed to defend stoutly forcing Sidcup to infringe giving Tabard a penalty. From the ensuing line out Tabard played the ball off the top, passed out quickly and Murphy accelerated through the Sidcup defence for a great try which scrum-half van der Vlugt converted to bring Tabard to within five points.

Shortly after Tabard showed they could use their runners but a certain try went begging after the final pass went astray. Sidcup had no such problems however and two further tries before half time, from Ody and hooker Cosh, meant that the sides turned round with Tabard 22-7 down.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with Sidcup in the ascendancy and Tabard defending hard but even the best defence can be overwhelmed and Sidcup stretched their lead with a try from centre Thompson.

Sidcup were the better side and in the final minutes they got through twice with No.8, West and replacement scrum-half Clark, both scoring tries. However, the final Sidcup attack resulted in Tabard turning the ball over, Murphy made the initial break out of defence, a kick ahead led to a long chase and Tabard’s full-back Neil Hopcroft, touched down for the final score of the game and Tabard had lost by 39 points to 12.

Due to the fixture re-arrangements Tabard now have to play Sidcup away next week kick off 3pm.

Tabard: Hopcroft, Jenkins (Gough 65), Mitchell, Murphy, Davis, Edwards, Van der Vlugt, B Lake, O’Neill, W Lake, O’Connor (Astley 56), Kidd, Hall, Calnan, Stoba.

Other results: Tabard II XV 29–15, on Sunday the Tabard women beat Hitchin by 27 points to 5.