LONDON TWO NORTH Westcliff 17 Ruislip 3
One of their furthest away trips of the season ended with one of Ruislip's worst performances as they lost 17-3 at struggling Westcliff.
The Southend-based club, second bottom in the league and with a big injury list, were far from hopeful of beating mid-table Ruislip and the opening quarter reflected the apparent difference between the teams as the visitors took charge.
The referee regularly penalised the hosts for infringements and 17-year-old Maroons debutant, Stuart Pearham, opened the scoring with an easy penalty.
It was too comfortable though and Ruislip failed to press home their wind advantage and the game suddenly changed on the half hour when some glaring missed tackles resulted in the home winger strolling over for the first try.
Five minutes later the situation became even more dire when a speculative kick through resulted in a botched clearance and this time the Westcliff centre scored a soft try.
Unbelievably the limited Westcliff side led 12-3 at half-time with the assistance of a significant wind at their backs still to come. Westcliff respected the condi
tions and kicked long, making Ruislip chase the game from deep inside their own territory. Simple errors proliferated and the game was lost when Ruislip conceded a third try.
Coach John Lacey said: "I was annoyed at our performance level, it was unacceptable and the players as a squad need to question their individual contributions.
"A continuation of that will mean a number of stuffings before the end of the season as we play some much better sides than Westcliff."
Ruislip entertain in-form Chingford at West End Road, at 3pm on Saturday. [25a0] The Threes proved themselves worthy league champions by defeating second-placed Hendon 24-10 despite the hosts scoring a try inside the first 10 minutes.
Ruislip responded immediately with an excellent try for Adam West and went further ahead with a good move finished off by Puffa Jafery in the corner, although Hendon landed a penalty to leave the game nicely poised at 14-10 at the break.
However, prop Brad Lyddon started the second half by scoring Ruislip's third try and soon after West added an excellent drop goal, before the Maroons defended brilliantly to prevent Hendon scoring again.
[25a0] Conor Andrews grabbed two tries as Ruislip U17s stormed into the divisional play-off semi-finals of the National Cup with an emphatic 27-0 win over Bury St Edmunds.
Ruislip's style of play immediately challenged the visitors and in the ninth minute Andrews went over for a try in the corner, converted by Joe Hudson, while further pressure led to Joe Nolan, Joe Little and Andrews adding three more scores.
Little converted one and landed a penalty to take his side well in front but the second half was a very different story as Bury applied pressure for long periods and even crossed their try line three times, only to by held up on each occasion by a resolute defence.
Ruislip held on to keep them out and reach the March 22 semi-finals.
On Sunday Ruislip welcome Hertford for a league game at 11am.
* Two unbeaten records were on the line when the U14s entertained London Scottish last Sunday.
The visitors made some penetrating runs deep into Ruislip territory early on yet Ruislip held firm until the Scottish firepower proved too much and their speedy centre burst through to score under the posts.
The Maroons replied by clawing their way upfield with a succession of pick and go moves before Ian Rowe broke through to score and convert his own try.For the rest of the half the visitors used the stiff breeze to deliver some testing kicks but full-back Alex D'Cruz gathered them confidently and countered.
Winger Elliot Byfield then scored his best try of the season, dancing around four defenders to run the ball in from 30 metres and Charlie Noon converted to give his side a 14-7 lead at the break, but only just, because D'Cruz and Byfield had to combine well to bundle out a Scottish attack inches from the line in the last play.
In the second half Ruislip kicked for territory and Rowe scored two more tries to complete his hat-trick and ensure the victory,although the man of the match was flanker Ross Mack-nay for his tireless tackling.
Hooker Dean Richardson also had a fine second half,winning three scrums against the head, while Rhys Verley completed the Ruislip try count after breaking loose from a maul and adding a sidestep to his repertoire to touch down.
Noon added another conversion before the visitors had the last word, breaching the tiring home defence with the final play, but Ruislip were still able to celebrate a fine 33-14 win.
