Woodford suffer 60-20 home loss against London 1 North leaders Westcliff

Westcliff were quick out of the blocks and capitalised to score three well-worked tries in the opening ten minutes.

Woodford were spurred into action by some firm words from the coaching staff and the home side’s pack fought back well with Niall Moody, Stephan Eleftheriou and Mike Lawlor prominent in carrying the fight to the visitors.

Pounding the Westcliff line, Woodford forced a number of penalties before Lawlor finally crashed over to give his side their first points.

Westcliff hit back however, and added a fourth try to give the visitors a bonus point after 20 minutes and a 26-5 lead.

Nevertheless, Woodford were gaining a foothold in the game and they thought they scored another try when Moody crashed over but the referee was unable to see if the ball had been grounded and felt unable to give the try.

Woodford continued their offensive game dand were rewarded on the stroke of half-time as Moody and Eleftheriou combined with quick hands to give Elliot Kayser a free run to the line. James Kilden converted to reduce the arrears to 26-12 at the break.

Woodford continued where they left off after the interval as a Kilden penalty pulled the Highams men back to within 11 points.

This seemed to sting the visitors back into action as they once again showed their class to break Woodford’s resistance with another fluid try.

Although Woodford knew the game was up, another two tries would give them a bonus point and when centre Alex Silk powered through and outpaced the cover from 35 metres to score in the corner, they hoped they could at least salvage something from the game.

From a lineout, the Woodford pack drove over but Kayser was denied by the referee, who was again unsighted.

In the final ten minutes, Westcliff were able to add the gloss to the scoreline with a further three well-worked tries as the space opened up for them.

Woodford have a rest this weekend with their next match a trip to Diss on Saturday, October 26.