East London, led by a hat-trick from captain Harry Walker, dominate under the floodlights for an unlikely win as they beat University of Essex 34-22 to go top of league.
East London were riding a hot streak coming in to this game having won four games in a row, it made there earlier 62-15 defeat a distant memory.
From the opening whistle East London pressured the Essex defence and forced several early penalties.
Ten minutes in, Full Back Jordan Dowsett scored a penalty that would kick off his perfect goal kicking day and put the hosts 3-0 up.
Despite early East London pressure, Essex were the first to cross the whitewash.
After a good backs move and quick recycled ball, the visiting team went over in the corner for an unconverted try to put the away side in the lead for the first time.
East London spent a lot of time in the Essex 22, but it wasn’t until Emmanuel Varlez spotted space and switched the play to Walker that East London got there first try.
It was an excellent finish in the corner by the captain for his first try of the game. Dowsett added a tough extra two.
Ill Disciplined
It was a physical affair all the way through, and just five minutes before half time, Luke Tagenakurukuru was yellow carded for a high tackle.
Immediately from this, Essex picked up the pace and scored two tries against the depleted East London before the break. The score at the half was 17-10 to Essex.
Despite being down to 14 men at the start of the half, East London came out the aggressors, and Harry Walker made a break straight through the middle of the Essex backline to score under the posts.
Another Yellow card very quickly followed as Essex got a player sent to the bin, also for a high tackle.
Quickly after, East London exploited the extra man and James Hancock got into the wide channels, where he has had so much success this year, and scored East London’s third for the afternoon.
Dowsett scored the resulting conversion to give East London a 24-17 lead.
Back And Forth Battle
Essex were next to score after a kick into the corner allowed their winger to put the ball down in the corner largely uncontested, the following conversion was missed.
Essex’s kicking woes continued as shortly after as they missed a penalty kick from in front of the posts to take the lead.
Final Blow
East London found an extra gear later on and after Dowsett scored another long-range penalty, Harry Walker completed his hat-trick with a close-range pick and go score.
The following conversation put East London 34-22 up and out of the reach of Essex s they desperately tried to claw back for the remaining minutes.
East London are now top of the league which is there they will remain over the Christmas break. East London Rugby will be back in action January 20th in an away game against rivals Greenwich.
