Liam Feaviour reports from a tough fixture for East London…
Top of the table visitors May & Baker lived up to their pre-match favourites tag with a 6-30 victory over East London in a gritty Essex League 1 game at the Memorial Ground in West Ham on Saturday.
The game started evenly with both sides swapping early penalty kicks. Fly-half Kieran Oliver slotted one for the home side but another fell just short of the posts.
On 21 minutes the powerful May & Baker pack pushed over for a try in the corner and five minutes later extended their lead to ten points with another try with both conversions missed. East London narrowed the gap to 6-13 at half-time when Oliver kicked another penalty from in front of the posts.
A harshly-awarded yellow card for flanker Will Masters early in the second half put East London under the cosh, with the sustained pressure by the visitors taking its toll on the home side for the rest of the match. Masters was yellow-carded in the 43rd minute and May & Baker began to turn the screw. Valiant defending from the home side kept them at bay until the 55th minute when they scored in the corner. The conversion was missed.
East London almost got back into the match with ten minutes remaining when a fine run by centre Adam Brown split the visiting defence but Oliver was unable to keep hold of the vital pass. May & Baker scored two more tries in the final ten minutes with just the first one being converted.
The victory results in the visitors opening up a five-point gap at the top of the league while East London slipped to eighth position. East London chairman Nick Bracken said: “The yellow card was harsh and we didn’t get the breaks at vital moments. The score-line was hard on us and doesn’t reflect the effort and spirit the boys put in.”
East London visit second-placed Epping Upper Clapton on Saturday (1 November) with a 2.30pm kick-off.
East London 1st XV vs May & Baker: 1. Richard Clarke; 2. Mirko Zemanovic; 3. Deniss Bulai; 4. Jim Crick; 5. Michael Groombridge; 6. Will Masters; 7. Oliver Bastable; 8. Nick Parrott; 9. Ben Murphy; 10. Kieran Oliver; 11. Hugo Chanson; 12. Pierce Young; 13. Adam Brown; 14. Tommy Little; 15. Joseph Kelly. Replacements: Gary Pearmain; Daniel Roach-Williams; Shane Oliver.