UEL started the game with luck seeming to evade them, as a big try-scoring opportunity was missed due to a foul for double movement. They looked to be on top and were posing danger down the left side.

In the 25th minute the ball was cleared to winger Mustafa Rafique, who in contrast to his bright start, made an error and failed to handle the ball. UA capitalised on the mistake to set up the opening try and take a 7 -0 lead.

UEL, who were huge favourites prior to the match, then started to assert their dominance. A knock on a matter of feet away from the try line saw a huge opportunity wasted, but with the last action of the first half, they were rewarded with their first try of the match. The try was unconverted and the score at half time was 7-5 to the hosts.

Bonus

UEL manager Dan Donnelly spoke to his players at half time and was immediately focusing on the bonus point suggesting he knew his team were far superior to the UA opposition.

UEL came out firing and immediately took control of the game. In the second minute of the half, Deji Olajide scored UEL’s second try of the match and put the visitors in front. The try was again unconverted and the score was 7-10.

The tighthead prop continued to impress and was proving too much to handle for the opposition with his bulldozing runs through the middle of the home outfit. The game hit a stalemate for 10 minutes as both teams fought for possession.

Two high tackles in quick succession saw one of the UA players sent off, leaving them down to 14 men. To add insult to injury, another team member went off with injury and with no subs to replace him, UAL found themselves down to 13 men.

UEL took full advantage of this and after a sloppily conceded pen, UEL piled the pressure on the brittle defence of the University of the Arts and a try from Charlie Wilson was then converted by no other than himself to make the score 7-17.

UEL could deem themselves unlucky again as shortly after celebrating, UA broke away and despite a clear forward pass in the centre of the pitch, went on to score their second try of the match and close the gap to five points as they failed to convert the try.

Despite this, UEL maintained full confidence and focus to get the job done and had the bonus point from four tries in their sights.

Flowing

UEL scored a fourth try to claim the bonus point and all but killed the match with a fantastic flowing move.

UEL finished in a flourish as Charlie Wilson skipped past three opposing players before passing to Arthur Man who took it to the corner. UEL failed to convert on the great move but just moments later, Wilson found himself on the scoresheet again and calmly converted to make the scores 12-31.

This result means UEL maintain their 2nd place in the table and gives the team a boost of morale and confidence going into the tricky home tie against table toppers Queen Mary’s 3rd.

The man of the match performance for UEL was the highly anticipated debut of Brock Nelson, who interestingly converted from American Football to Rugby. Judging by his performance, he is certainly not a fish out of water, impressing his manager and teammates.

UEL manager Donnelly said that despite the result he wasn’t overly happy with the performance. He had every confidence in how good his squad were and reminded them of this at half time. Speaking to Rising East, Donnelly refused to speculate about a final finishing position insisting he and the team would take it one game at a time.

UEL are next at home to league leaders Queen Mary’s 3rd in what promises to be a mouth-watering clash.