Hainault Bulldogs stormed into the London League Grand Final with a convincing win over a strong St Albans team at The Kennel on Saturday, inspired by a man-of-the-match display from hooker Ray Lejerri. The Bulldogs started in spectacular fashion when defending the very first set of six; prop Ian Lovett and second rower David North doubling up on the St Albans prop with a fine tackle. He lost possession and from the resulting scrum there were two great drives from Graham Bailey and Reece Barney before Lejerri picked the ball up from acting half, saw the gap and darted through to score, with Andy Long converting.

It was St Albans who struck next and after some good ball handling, the Centurions hooker broke through and fed the ball on to Richard Smith for a  score converted by Craig Foster to tie the game at 6-6. In reply, Bulldogs centre Ben Bolton-Smith took a pass from Long and raced three quarters of the pitch, before being tackled by the St Albans winger yards away from the line. However, Lejerri was the first man there and again took the ball from acting half and went over for his and the Bulldogs' second try of the afternoon and a 12-6 lead.

The Centurions kept battling and were rewarded with another score through Russ Kellaway before the teams traded tries, Long scoring for the Bulldogs and the Centurions replying almost immediately, when Foster launched a speculative bomb on the last tackle and Chris True rose above all comers to take the ball and ground it. The score was then tied at 16-16 with ten minutes of the half remaining. The introductions of loose forward Joe Green and second row John Dillon saw Bulldogs take control and they were rewarded with tries from Long and the ever-present Bailey as the hosts led 28-16 at half time.

In the second half, three unanswered tries from sub Paddy Crowley, Bailey and a third from Lejerri ensured that Bulldogs had built an unassailable 44-16 lead. To their credit the Cents stuck at it and were rewarded with another True try, but the Bulldogs saved the best score until last when centre Ben Bolton-Smith picked up a loose ball on his own 20-metre line before winger Mark Buxey drew in the Centurions' full back to pass on to opposite winger Danny Garrett, who scored under the posts. Long converted to make the final score 50-20 in favour of the Bulldogs.