Liam Feaviour reports as East London record a crushing win over Writtle Wanderers…
East London recorded back-to-back wins for the first time this season with a 36-17 victory at home against Writtle Wanderers that moved them up to sixth place in Essex League 1.
East London had Writtle under the cosh straight from the kick-off with controlled aggression in the tackle resulting in London gaining early territorial advantage. The pressure was rewarded when a quick passing movement saw back Shane Oliver score the first try, which was converted by Ali Gonse.
The home pack again pressured Writtle from the restart and soon progressed beyond the visitors’ 22-metre line. When the forwards were held up by dogged defending inches short of the try line they managed to recycle the ball and hooker Mirko Zemanovic collected the ball at pace and ran a fantastic line to score, with Gonse missing the conversion on this occasion.
More of the same followed with East London again dominating all aspects of play. Line speed in defence saw them winning the turnover ball on numerous occasions before Zemanovic scored his second try of the game on 20 minutes with a similar effort to his first. Gonse converted.
At 19-0 and coasting, East London relaxed and Writtle took advantage to score their first try which was not converted. From the restart the visitors worked hard to regain possession and they scored again with the conversion missed and as half-time approached they scored a third try which was converted to narrow the gap to two points at the interval.
East London introduced Richard Gregory for Jim Crick in the second row and Ben Murphy for Ben Dawson in the backs which revitalised the home side. An injury to forward Niall Buckley saw Crick reintroduced to play alongside Gregory with Michael Groombridge moving to number 8, which reinvigorated the pack. Good work from skipper Nick Parrott and Will Masters in the back row kept East London on the front foot and as Writtle tired the gaps opened up for the home side.
The visitors struggled to cope with the pace and mazy runs of full back Adam Brown and it was one of those that created an opening for scrum half Kieran Oliver to score in the corner which was converted by Gonse. East London were now in total command and a penalty from Gonse stretched the lead before a second and final try by Shane Oliver, converted by Gonse, brought an end to the scoring.
The home side carried on the good work that saw them triumph 56-14 at Burnham-on-Crouch last weekend and they go into Saturday’s tough game at the Memorial Ground against unbeaten league leaders May & Baker full of confidence.
East London 1st XV vs Writtle Wanderers: Richard Clarke, Mirko Zemanovic, Deniss Bulai, Michael Groombridge, Jim Crick, Niall Buckley, Will Masters, Nick Parrott, Kieran Oliver, Ali Gonse, Tommy Little, Ben Dawson, Shane Oliver, Joe Kelly, Adam Brown. Replacements: Gary Pearmain, Richard Gregory, Ben Murphy.