Match Report

 S London II 52-20 Luton

12/08/06 (Courtesy of S London Storm)

South London Storm’s second team lifted their first ever piece of silverware at the weekend when they comfortably defeated Luton Vipers in the London League Grand Final. The win was a fitting reward for a team that has improved as the season has progressed, and which has given over a dozen teenagers their first taste of open age rugby in the course of the campaign.

The visitors opened the brighter, taking a first minute lead with an unconverted try. Early nerves hampered Storm and they found themselves penned back in their own half by the eager Vipers, but an 8th minute break from Chris Beavan ended with Matt Chapman crossing to level the scores. With the try Storm settled and from then on there was to be only one winner. Captain Rob Mitchell’s try in the corner on 14 minutes gave the home side a lead they would not relinquish. They dominated field position but it took until the half hour mark to cross again when man of the match Jack Murdoch jinked his way over.

Four minutes later Andy Pennicard scored the try of the afternoon. Defusing a Vipers’ kick on his own line, the winger sprinted the length of the field to score his third try from four games this season. Cormac Lomasney completed a satisfying first half for Storm when he raced in from 50 yards right on the whistle, Rich Pitchfork converting.

Three tries in the opening six minutes of the second half quickly put paid to any hopes Luton may have had of staging a fightback. First, sixteen year old Einstein Ntim got on the end of a Mitchell break to score, then Lomasney notched his second of the game. From the restart, prop Col Pritchard got onto the scoresheet, powering over from short range to take the lead to 38-4.

With the game won, Storm took the foot off the peddle and allowed Luton to cross for three tries, but the win was wrapped up with two tries in the last two minutes, both unstoppable efforts from second-rower Chris Clarke, converted by Pitchfork.