National Super 8 League
Ruislip Eagles 26
Leeds Hornets 21

RUISLIP Eagles were made to work hard for the win when they took on Leeds Hornets in the National Super 8 League at the weekend.

A tight and tense first half saw the two teams cancel each other out going forward as both teams’ defences held strong with only 11 goals a side.

This was in contrast to the Eagles’ easy win last week when they scored 21 in the first half against Deva.

The Eagles might have had themselves to blame had the result not gone their way as they missed several opportunities, but they were the fitter side in the second half and managed to put Leeds under pressure as they found their rhythm.

Denis Werner led the way with six goals; Sebastien Louis, Lucas Carstens and Maxime Rebelle added four each; Bjorn Tessmann and Marc Fayemi each bagged a hat-trick; and Alex Tighzer and Fred Charpentier each netted once to see the Eagles to their second win of the campaign.

Player-manager Fayemi said: “We didn’t take a convincing lead very early in the game and did not find enough fluency in attack.

“However the team never panicked; we had a good last 12 minute spell to earn the three points. We can be satisfied with this second win in two games.”

Ruislip’s league campaign now goes on the back burner until the end of October as they travel to Moldova for the second round of the European Challenge Cup.

The Eagles will face Olimpus-85-USEFS of Moldova, SPE Strovolos of Cyprus and Dragunas of Lithuania in Group B and will be hoping to progress past this stage where they were knocked out last season.