Twickenham 42 – London Nigerian 14.

As the match programme said, it was only a matter of time before Twickenham clicked and turned in a scintillating performance. This they did, and with some style, against the recent London 1 club London Nigerian.

After a frenetic first 20 minutes with both sides trying a bit too hard to be adventurous, resulting in a number of telling handling errors, Phil Astbury landed a penalty to open the T’s scoring.

As half time approached a quickly taken penalty in their own 22 allowed the visitors to spin the ball wide to their winger who after sprinting fifty yards flicked a pass to their huge number 4 to crash over for a try which they duly converted. An immediate riposte by Twickenham with a good take at a line out by Jeremy Davies and a ball out to Joe Foley gave Richard Moses a 10 metre sprint to the line for a try, converted by Astbury, bringing the half time score to 10-7.

The London Nigerians came back immediately after the break with a converted try under the posts but then had a player yellow carded for an outrageous high tackle. This was really their last meaningful play of the game as the T’s then turned on performance not seen for a couple of seasons with tries from Phil Astbury and Charlie I’Anson both converted by Astbury, an unconverted try by Mat Wadden and a further penalty, 32-14 was then the score.

After a number of substitutions, which saw last year’s colt Adam Wakefield make his first league appearance, Twickenham turned on a blistering performance, with the backs stretching the play from one side of the pitch to the other, this time with their handling more secure, which gave Another of last season’s colts, Russell Whittam the satisfaction of two very well taken tries. The final score was Twickenham 42- London Nigerian 14.

It is unfair to pick out individuals in a great team performance but it is worth saying that the lineout work of Jeremy Davis was outstanding and set up much good ball that was used to good effect by the backs.

This may not have been the London Nigerians of the past but Twickenham showed that when they have an opponent on the back foot, that they have the instinct and ability to deliver the coup de grace in some style, and it is hoped that they can repeat this against the tougher opposition that they will meet during the season.

Team. M.Nicholson (M.Nicholson 30mins.), C Tytherleigh, R. Moses, J Davies, P.Goff ( A.Wakefield 70 mins), S. Colqhoun, C. I’anson ( S.Finnegan 70 mins) R.Kirby, A.Rogers, P.Astbury, R.Witham, J.Foley, S.Stone, M.Wadden, B.Isherwood.