London & South East Division North One
Old Priorians 17-12 Ipswich
Old Priorians, also known as the Twisters, wriggled out of a tight spot to return to winning ways.
Last week’s mauling at Brentwood might have been on Perivale minds when Ipswich touched down in the opening minutes.
But the calm head of fly-half and captain Jack Dever pulled his side together in a manner that held sway for the next 75 minutes. James Booth converted three penalties, and a push over try by number 8 Tim Boorman put OP’s in the driving seat.
An injury, and then a yellow card for substitute hooker Liam Dolan with less than 10 minutes remaining resulted in the west Londoners surrendering all scrums to the final whistle with just 13 men.
Ipswich used numerical advantage to score in the corner and cut the home side’s lead to two, but a beleaguered defence got the tiny bit of breathing space it needed when Booth notched kick number four.
Old Priorians head coach Anthony Andrews said: “I’m really pleased at the character the guys showed.
"We were up against a team with some big ball carriers who fought until the end but we managed to pull together and hold on.
"Under difficult conditions and on our smaller second team pitch I was very pleased with our work at the breakdown and the management of the game from 9 and 10.
"I think we can take a lot of confidence from this.”
