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T's season comes to a premature close......
T's seem to save their worst for the Cup, and on Saturday produced their least impressive performance since the defeat by Wimbledon in the Intermediate Cup. A side weakened by injury, and featuring some strange positional idiosyncracies in the three quarters could, however, have led 13-0 at half time.
Two straightforward penalties, and a legitimate try which poor positioning by the referree failed to spot would have at least given Ealing something to chase in the second half. As it was poor defensive play allowed Ealing to cross for two tries before half time and the game was all but over.....
The Richmond and Twickenham Times report follows:
Ealing 23 Twickenham 0
Thoughts of League position put on hold for a week when Twickenham traveled to Ealing to compete in the quarter final of the Middlesex Cup. Neither side played well due in no small part to the extremely poor condition of the pitch. Twickenham’s WMD of recent weeks the rolling maul failed to produce its’ usual crop of tries. On occasions the methods used to stop this tactic led to some ill tempered “Handbags” between the two sides.
Early in the game the T’s blind side forward had to leave the field with a dislocated shoulder and James Clark failed with a penalty. Then a good touch kick by Greg Bryce, a lineout steal by Clive See and Twickenham’s forwards drove determinedly for the try line. Several rolling mauls were repulsed, the penalties were kicked to touch to provide the platform for another catch and drive. However after 10 minutes of this pressure the only reward was another unsuccessful penalty.
After 35 minutes due to poor defensive alignment Ealing made progress deep into Twickenham's 22, from the ensuing ruck the Ealing centre was on hand to go over for a try on the left. Against the run of play but 5 – 0 adrift.
After a ruck from the kick off the ball was passed to the narrow side where the strong running Ealing wing was able to run from the halfway mark to go over for a try in the right corner. Half time 10 – 0.
Second half, despite strong attacking from Twickenham’s backs points were not forthcoming. Then the Twickenham openside was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul. Now Ealing’s forwards began to exercise more control and from a powerful rolling maul near the Twickenham line the replacement hooker was able to pick up and drive over despite the attentions of two defenders. 15 – 0.
Twickenham after 25minutes of this half had another unsuccessful attempt at a penalty. Even with the return of the binned forward things did not improve and after 35 minutes of the half Ealing were able to work a second try for their right wing. Five minutes later Ealing were awarded a penalty for offside at the ruck which they converted. Final score 23 – 0.
TWICKENHAM: Clark,McDermott, Foley, Banks, Seabrook, Bryce(Francis 60mins),
Peters( Rogers 60mins), Mooney, Drinkwater, Thomas(Alexander 60mins),
See, Reffauld, Stewart(Tytherleigh 10 mins), I’anson, Dawes
Elsewhere in the Club:
Not a good day all round really as a strong 'Redes' went down to Rosslyn Park in the Middlesex merit Table, and the 'Blacks' were thumped yet again, Chobham being the gladitorial victors on this occassion.
The Trojans and Reds face the Super Series next week. My calculations show that the Trojans should go into that mini-league well placed to challenge for the title....
| Camberley | 15 |
| Richmond Saxons | 13 |
| Twickenham | 12 |
| Wimbledon | 11 |
| Guildford | 11 |
| Richmond Dev | 10 |
| Guildford Dev | 8 |
| Barnes | 8 |
playing the highlighted teams in their remaining fixtures, two home and two away
The 'Blacks' position is thus .
| Guildford III | 8 |
| Cobham III | 8 |
| Effingham and L III | 4 |
| Twickenham Blacks | 2 |
| Purley John Fisher III | 0 |
| Dorking III | 0 |
Elsewhere in the League
London Scottish had a narrow win over Norwich.......in a rearranged game, and with nothing else to report it is time to look at the annual, who goes where situation as we approach the promotion and relegation stages.
The RFU have introduced some changes this season which will guarantee at our level, only three teams go down. To balance any mismatch caused by the cascade, teams bordering other regions may be moved into that region at the same league level. London 3 leagues are also being incresed to 12 clubs.
So....disregard the playoff results and assume Esher, Rosslyn Park and Lydney are relgated to National 3, the former two going into the Southern region...this could cause the imbalance described, so North Walsham or Lydney would be moved into National 3 North to correct it....get the idea?
The same, or worse could be true if Westcombe Park, Old Colfes and Basingstoke are relegated as all should go into London 1. The inbalance would be corrected by placing Basingstoke, and possibly Havant into South West 1.
At our level Harlow, Camberley and London Nigerians could all be relegated, with Harlow and Nigerians coming into London 2 North, again causing an inbalance. In the cases above, the correction could involve the relegated side being moved over (Lydney and Basingstoke) which for consistency may mean Nigerians moving into London 2S, but given the possibility of Bank of England being relegated and Civil Service being promoted, the decision may be that Twickenham or Civil Service move to maintain the status quo.......
But then again all may be solved for the third year running if the play-offs all favour the London North region. Only time will tell.
