Rampant OA seal win

National Three, London & SE

Old Albanian 51 Dorking 0

OLD ALBANIAN stay on the heels of league leaders Jersey, with six tries and another big win to nil, as they continue to plunder their current rich vein of form.

On paper this should have been a close contest with Dorking approaching the match in fifth place but in reality the visitors' cause was lost inside half an hour's play after they withered in the wake of OA's breathtaking display of complete rugby.

In the post match celebrations, home supporters speculated as to whether they had just witnessed the best half ever produced by an OA side.

In this irresistible display, The Woollams' Men reproduced the qualities of discipline, organisation and mutual support that had won them the points and secured another clean sheet at Basingstoke.

The first of four first half tries was scored, in characteristic fashion, as James Ellershaw pouched the ball following a lineout and cruised through a line of defenders from 20 metres out.

On 25 minutes, Gustard picked up and went from the base of a scrum and offloaded to the lively Evans, in close support, who finished decisively.

The crowd had barely time to settle before Ross Hamilton sent in James Pavitt close to the posts after a delightfully sweet interchange between the two forwards.

This was soured later in the match when Pavitt suffered a serious ankle injury.

OA continued to ask all the questions and Ellershaw was in the clear for another score had the final pass not been delivered at ankle height.

Keen to secure the valuable bonus point before the interval, the home forwards encamped themselves in Dorking's red zone, forcing their overworked opponents into collapsing successive scrums. After two warnings the referee's patience was exhausted and Gregg made no mistake in converting the penalty try awarded.

This made six out of six successful kicks for the in-form fly half whose 17 points swelled OA's half time points haul to 37 whilst a standing ovation greeted the players as they filed off for a welcome cup of tea.

Predictably, after the champagne display in the opening half, entertainment levels took a decided dip after the break. It seems that the instructions to offer a tight defence, delivered by coach, Mark Langley, were taken a little too literally by his charges as they settled for playing the game in their own half for the majority of the first half hour. The fierce rucking which had previously won so much turn-over ball was far less evident.

Naturally, Dorking saw this sudden lack of ambition as their cue to salvage something from the predicament in which they had found themselves and, prompted by Ben Allard and top scorer Matt Noble, worked hard in building a number of promising attacks.

Still unable to get any change from OA's pack, The Red and Whites tried everything in a vain attempt to break through, including a high kick into the corner which the home side just managed to recover with the winger ready to pounce.

The barren spell looked set to continue but the OA backs had saved enough to enlighten the proceedings with a devastating final flourish in which Adams struck twice.

With the clock running down, the powerful centre finished a smart move down the left and then produced another try from an even better approach.

Lincoln, whose sound handling under the high ball was consistency itself, broke again down the flank and Laurence White combined with Chris May as they released Adams for the touch down.

Gregg was in no mood to miss the opportunity to add the conversions and thus post a 100 per cent record on the day; his personal tally, worth 21 points.

OA travel to the South Coast next weekend where their perfect away record is sure to come under close examination by a confident Havant side.

OA: Lincoln, Panting, Adams, Edwards, May, Gregg, Evans, Ellershaw, Botterman, Tawera, Comb, Hamilton, Pavitt, White, Gustard.

Reps: Hughes, Bennett, Miller.