Cobden Hill side thrash Ruislip

London One North

Ruislip 7 Tabard 42

TABARD unleashed their runners early on in the game against Ruislip on Saturday and then their forwards controlled the game sufficiently to keep their opponents starved of good ball, before scoring seven tries in total to give them a convincing win by 42 points to seven.

Tabard had the slope and the wind to contend with in the first half and after a brief skirmish in their opponents half to start with it looked as though Ruislip would pen Tabard back. Then, just seven minutes into the game and 15 metres from the Tabard line, a Ruislip attack faltered. Tabard gained possession and the ball was passed quickly to stand off Tryfan Edwards who burst clear and then had the strength to run the remaining 70 metres up the hill to score. Scrum-half Chris Van der Vlugt converted and Tabard were seven points up.

Tabard now mounted attacks of their own and a period of pressure was rewarded with a penalty from Van der Vlugt after a Ruislip yellow card. Ruislip attacked again however but this time Tabard’s full-back, Neil Hopcroft, broke clear inside his own 22 metre area and, as he neared the line, he kicked ahead. The Ruislip full-back fielded the ball but his clearance kick was charged down by the Tabard wing, Matty Roberts, who then pursued the loose ball to touch down for the try.

Tabard then used their forwards to control the game and this also led to a third try when No.8, Scott Stoba, touched down following a line out drive of a good 10 metres. Tabard then found themselves having only 13 men after two yellow cards were awarded for petty misdemeanours and Ruislip were able to capitalise on this with a try just before half time from No.8, West. Full-back Christian converted and the teams turned round with Tabard leading by 20 points to seven.

In the second half early Tabard pressure went without reward but once again the forwards kept the game in control and a Ruislip late tackle enabled Tabard to have a line out close in. Once again the forwards drove and Stoba was on hand to touch down. Van der Vlugt converted and added another penalty soon after to put the game out of Ruislip’s reach.

The final 10 minutes saw Tabard score two further tries. For the first, Tabard ran a penalty and prop Wilf Lake made the initial ground before the recycled ball went to flanker Dan Calnan for the score which was converted. The final try came after a pursuit down the right wing which was won by the Tabard flanker, Joe Rushton, who touched down to bring up the final score of 42 points to seven in Tabard’s favour.

Tabard: Hopcroft, Roberts, Murphy (Woodhead 75), Meade, Davis, Edwards, Van der Vlugt, B Lake B, Hart, W Lake , Kidd (O’Neil 55), Astley, Calnan, Stingu (Rushton 70) and Stoba.

Next week Tabard are away to Old Colfeians, kick off 3pm.