FULLERIANS 1st XV 7 Sudbury 19

London 1 North

After their win the week before Fullerians were hoping this would be the kick start to the season they needed. However, Sudbury just wanted it more and deserved the win to keep Fullers in the relegation zone.

Fullers started well and it wasn’t long before a penalty was awarded for a high tackle. The kick hit the upright and Sudbury was able to clear their lines. Moments later more pressure from the Fullers pack were able to pin Sudbury on their 5 metre line.

The resultant scrum saw the ball recycled and a couple of phase’s later prop Douglas McKenzie-Smith crashed over for his first try for the club. Captain Dan Evans added the extra two points.

Sudbury not to be undone went up the field and capitalised on some poor tackling by Fullers and immediately scored in the corner. The conversion went wide.

The rest of the half was even where no team could really break down each other’s defences. Sudbury did have a penalty in front of the posts but decided to run it only to knock the ball on and the chance was lost.

In the second half with the score at 7-5 it was all to play for. Fullers got deep into the Sudbury half but just could not break their visitors defence. The line out did not function well for Fullers and any momentum or chance to build pressure was lost as the ball went wide. The scrum did not have its dominance either as it has in recent matches so the set piece struggled again for Fullers.

Fullers did get into the Sudbury 22 and were awarded a penalty in front of the posts. However, for some reason they went for the scrum and Sudbury put great pressure on their hosts and stole the ball and clear their lines by 60 metres. The chance went missing for Fullers to build a lead and you could argue changed the game at that moment.

Their tails were up and Sudbury with that little bit more hunger went up field and scored two well worked tries as Fullers heart was lost and fell off the tackles. Sudbury just wanted it more and deserved their win.

“I thought last week was the turning point in the season beating Diss away. However, we lacked hunger and commitment last Saturday. We should have gone for the points when they were on offer and I am part to blame for that as the scrum was not as dominant as it was in previous games. We have to look at ourselves in where we want to play our rugby but there is still a long way to go before the end of the season.” commented Fullerians head coach Rich Hoskins.

Team. Barson, Williams, MacGregor-Smith (McDougall 60), Purnell (Boyd 40), Kerr, Scully, D. Toon, Harvey, Wells, M. Toon, Maher, Dollard, Mann, Alexander, Evans

Man of the Match: John Barson