SCRFC 52 - 21 Merton

Within 5 minutes of kick off it was clear that Merton had the dominant pack while Streatham-Croydon had the advantage in the backs. This led to a stalemate at the start of the game with Merton keeping Streats penned in their 22 without being able to find the killer blow and Streats finding it hard to get hold of the ball. With 15 minutes gone and the score still at 0-0, it was Streatham who drew first blood. A break from the 22 and the resulting penalty from the breakdown saw the home side with a line out 7m out from the Merton line. A well taken throw in and quick off load to Dominic saw him slip a tackle and power over the line.

This was to be one of the few forays into the Merton half in the first quarter of the game and after more pressure from the Merton pack, the pressure finally told and some quick hands and a great line from the Merton centre saw their winger go in at the corner. A wonderful conversion saw the away side take the lead 5-7 with 31mins gone. At this point Streatham threw on front row replacements Alsop and Darlington to shore up the set-piece. A more solid base allowed Streatham to make more ground and when Dominic got the ball on the Merton 10m line he cut through 4 tackles in a 40m run that put him in under the posts. Half time and the match was close at 12-7.

Whatever head coach Bob Dickinson said to Streatham at half time must have worked. From the kick off Merton were under pressure and with just minutes gone on the 2nd half they sliced a clearing kick from their 5m line. Streatham upped the tempo with a quick throw in, the ball going through the whole back line to end up in the hands of Streatham's danger man Grant, his pace and power too much for the struggling Merton defence and he powered over for his 1st try of the game. 5 minutes later and Merton's slow line speed allowed Grant to get the ball in huge amounts of space and there was only ever going to be one result, a 60m run and Grant went over again for the bonus try. Merton where now blowing hard trying to keep up with the pace of the Streatham back line and gaps were starting to open. Streatham's new speedy centre Nic Ogbonna found one such gap and made 50m before being dragged down but was still able to offload to keep the move going and the ball went down the line where it found Streatham's cheeky hooker Ben Alsop who gleefully dived over the line to make it 31-7. At this point the boys in Maroon where guilty of losing shape and maybe a touch of white line fever.

At one point while trying to run the ball from their own 5m line Streats were forced into touch with Merton scoring from the resulting line-out. 38-14. The Merton backs could no longer contain the home sides speedsters with Ogbonna scoring and Grant going on another signature long run to bag his hat-trick. As the score ticked over to 52-14 Streatham gave up all attempts to keep their shape and the now exhausted Merton was allowed to create a 4 man overlap following a break from their second row, bringing the final score to 52-21.

Streatham will be very pleased with the performance and their ability to defend against a better pack in the first 30mins. However they will need to make sure they keep their heads when they come up against stiffer competition.