Gary Bird reports from another crushing East London win…
East London romped to their biggest win of the season with a thumping 61-7 victory over bottom of the table Pegasus Palmerians. Star of the show was outside centre Adam Brown who scored four of the nine tries the home side clocked up to move to seventh place in Essex League 1.
East London took the lead on five minutes when left wing Tommy Little scored wide on the left following good work from scrum-half Kieran Oliver, whose conversion attempt fell just short of the posts.
On 15 minutes Pegasus briefly took the lead when a catch and drive from the visiting forwards resulted in a try in the corner which was converted. That was the only time they had their noses in front and on 27 minutes a passing move through the East London back line saw Brown break two tackles and score under the posts. Oliver converted.
That was the signal for the floodgates to open and on the half hour a clever box kick by fly-half Ali Gonse was chased by pacey right wing Daryl O’Brien who grabbed the loose ball on the right hand side and began a passing move that resulted in Tommy Little scoring in the left corner. Oliver converted from the touch line.
Five minutes later Brown scored his second try following a quick tap from a penalty with Oliver again conceding the extras. On the stroke of half-time East London took advantage of Pegasus having a man yellow carded when good disruptive work from number eight Oto Hajmala resulted in Brown picking up the loose ball to score his third try. Oliver converted for a 33-7 interval lead.
Within minutes of the restart a mazy run from O’Brien saw him beat three defenders to score and Oliver converted. The Pegasus kick-off was collected by East London skipper Nick Parrott who fed number Hajmala, he passed to O’Brien who broke tackles to feed Oliver for a try under the posts which he then converted. On 50 minutes Adam Brown scored another try in the corner converted from the left touch line by Oliver.
East London continued to dominate but didn’t score again until the 75th minute when the forwards at last got in on the act. Lock Richard Gregory touched down after good work from second row colleague Jim Crick who snagged the ball from the Pegasus defence. Oliver converted to take the score over 60 points.
East London are away to Bancroft on Saturday who sit two places below them in the Essex League 1 table.
East London 1st XV vs Pegasus Palmerians: 1. Mirko Zemanovic; 2. Will Masters; 3. Gary Pearmain; 4. Richard Gregory; 5. Jim Crick; 6. Nick Parrott; 7. Sam Alexander; 8. Oto Hajmala; 9. Kieran Oliver; 10. Ali Gonse; 11. Tom Little; 12. Ben Dawson; 13. Adam Brown; 14. Daryl O’Brien; 15. Pierce Young. Replacements: Dave Hayward, Hugo Chanson, Jon Dawson.