Old Reigatians ride spirited Purley rally

London South East Two

Purley John Fisher 22

Old Reigatians 30

Old Reigatians saw off spirited attacks in the second half to make the most of scoring three converted first half tries as they defeated their old rivals.

While the home side attacked from the kick-off, the ORs backs were soon running the ball in their now established pattern of play and scored first.

Nick Sauni took a flip pass from Nick Grant, cut through and beat the full-back to score after about five minutes.

A well-placed kick ahead for Will Sharp from Grant five minutes later enabled the winger to score. A few minutes later John Gale ran out of defence and the ball was worked out to Sharp, who scored his second try. Grant converted all three.

The visitors' backs continued to attack the line with no result until Grant dropped a goal from about 35 metres on 30 minutes.

Fisher responded and were able to evade the OR defence and three minutes later score a try that was converted. They continued to press and Reigatians' defence conceded several penalties.

Purley won their lineout near the corner and managed to drive over for a try, which was converted, leaving ORs leading 24-14 at half-time.

The hosts tightened their defence in the second half and went on the attack. Their reward came after six minutes when they gained a penalty in front of the posts for a handling offence, that was potted.

The pressure on ORs' defence told and the visitors, forced into mistakes, were unable to run the ball as easily as in the first half.

Some missed tackles then allowed the home side's number 14 to touch down, but the referee, not satisfied the ball was properly grounded, did not award it.

The last 20 minutes became rather scrappy as both sides made mistakes and conceded defensive penalties. Grant kicked one after 23 minutes.

A few minutes later the home side managed to break through the OR defence to score a try about 10 metres in, but the conversion did not go over.

A well worked attack stemming from a kick ahead by Jon Bailey, about 10 minutes later, was thwarted by the hosts, who were penalised for a handling offence in front of their posts.

Grant duly scored. The hosts continued to press and the ORs continued to counter as the game drew to a close.

The A team beat Guildford 43-3 in the Surrey Premier League at Park Lane.

Old Reigatians: Jurgs, Snelling, Jackson, Long (c), Bartlett, Crisp, Bogdanovs, Chesterton, Williams, Grant, Gale, Bailey, Sauni, Sharp, Kelly. Replacements: Slaughter, S Reid, A Forsyth.