Ruislip 10 Chingford 32

Chingford took on Ruislip in a rearranged fixture, following a mix-up with the referee not attending when the game should have taken place back in September.

As a punishment to Ruislip the RFU ordered that the the game be played at Chingford's ground.

And home advantage proved decisive, as Chingford ran out 32-10 winners to close the gap on leaders Westcliff to just two points.

With this originally being the first free Saturday of the season both teams fielded club XVs, with many changes to the Chingford team.

It was Ruislip that opened the scoring with a penalty, before the side stepping try scoring machine, that is Luke Campbell got hold of the ball, after some quick thinking by James Moore at a penalty.

Campbell got the ball just inside the Ruislip half, and started on a weaving side-stepping run, eventually scoring directly under the posts, after beating numerous defenders.

Kurt Forward added the conversion, before also kicking a penalty, to give Chingford a 10 points to three lead.

Minutes later Ruislip scored a try of their own, when their fly-half intercepted a pass, and ran a long 20 metres, that he also converted, and the scores were once again level at 10 points all.

Chingford then won the ball from the restart, with Kieran Bowling’s destructive runs causing havoc in Ruislip’s defence, and camped down deep in Ruislip territory.

The Chingford team wasted a couple of opportunities to score when lineouts were lost close to the try-line and forward passes were given.

Eventually, after some patient phase play, Chingford were rewarded with a try to hooker Ikena Onwuka, that Forward also converted, and the score at half time read Chingford 20 Ruislip 10.

The second half was much as the first, with Mullett controlling play from the scrum-half position, with a good kicking game and player coach Gavan immense in both defence and attack.

It was Chingford’s backs who created their third try, when Pike and Moy broke from defence, after a barn-storming run by prop Adam Raby, the ball was whipped out-wide to Savagar, who switched the ball back inside for fullback Chris Kells to dive over.

Forward was unlucky with the conversion attempt but Chingford held an important 15 point lead.

Credit to Ruislip, who could have thrown in the towel, but they continued to try and play rugby, and spent some time deep in the Chingford half, but could not turn the pressure into points.

Chingford then made some changes giving young Joe Gaze his first taste of first XV rugby when he replaced Forward in the centres, and Chris Garstin came on to replace winger Savagar.

With only seconds left on the clock Ruislip were rewarded with a penalty, and chose to keep the ball alive, trying to chip over full-back Kells, he gathered the ball and set off, running eventually to score under the posts to give Chingford the all important bonus point try.

James Moore slotted the easiest of conversions, and the final score was Chingford 32 Ruislip 10.

“A good club win today, with so many changes to the team that we fielded last week, it was good for all the guys out there today to get that bonus point win," said manager Phil Howell.

"Michael Lee once again lead the side fantastically, with the back row of Campbell, Gavan and Chris Moore hunting down anything in front of them, it gave our less experienced guys time to play.

"A big thank-you goes to Tom Regan who unfortunately didn’t get onto the park today, but came onto the bench in our time of need. A good result boys that puts us back to second in the table.”