Match Report

W London II 40-24 Bedford II

16/08/08 (pictures courtesy of Dave West)

The climax of the 2008 London ARL competition season brought together the top two sides throughout the regular season, as West London Sharks II played host to Bedford Tigers II as part of a London League and RLC Premier-South Grand Final double header. W London got off to a great start with the first try on just two minutes. After Bedford had knocked on close to their own goal-line, Luke Haslam crashed over from short range. Jake Cottrell converted to give the Sharks an early 6-0 lead. Bedford didn't take long to respond however, and levelled the scores on seven minutes when a good offload from prop Ash Deudney put Geoff Bramwork in for a try on the left.

The game then took on a more defensive nature for a while before a fumbled kick recovery by Bedford gave W London possession 20 metres from the opposition goal. From the scrum-base, a quick pass from Tom Orishuganu to the blindside put Kirston Block in for the score on the right wing. Bedford again hit back quickly, and after recovering a short kick off they sustained pressure in the W London half for several minutes. Eventually a penalty a few metres out allowed Jack Brown in for a try from close range as he shook off three tacklers, and the Tigers now led 12-10.

W London took the lead once more with a well worked try on 31 minutes. After shifting the ball from side to side over the course of a few tackles, Garen Clement-Pascall found a gap in the stretched defence. Unfortunately Bedford did not respond as well on this occasion as the next kick off went out on the full. After a break downfield left the Bedford defence scrambling to get back into position, a quick pass left from Jake Cottrell put Brett Goldings in for another try. This was to be the final score of the half as the teams went into the break with W London leading 20-12.

Both teams defended well in the early stages of the second half, but W London came up with the first score on 47 mins. After driving towards the posts, some quick passing left and a good offload put Matt Orishuganu in on the left wing. Despite now being two scores down, Bedford stuck to their task calmly, and came up with the next score on 55 minutes. Making use of good field position after a penalty for interference, a well timed reverse pass allowed Doug de St Aubins across the line. With the deficit down to six points Bedford seemed to have a new found belief that the game was there for the taking, and they were soon back in possession in the opposition half. A quick penalty tap caught the Sharks unaware and although they did complete the tackle, they could not regroup in time to prevent de St Aubins scoring his second try in three minutes after a simple pass, and the game was tied at 24 all.

Wests were soon back in front however. Bedford conceded a penalty for an incorrect play-the-ball inside their own 20 metre line, and W London took full advantage, as an excellent dummied pass by Tom Orishuganu fooled the defence, and left a huge gap for Garen Clement-Pascall to claim his second try. For the second time in the game, Bedford's kick off went out on the full, and W London again capitalised fully on this mistake. Working the ball down the left of the field, an off-load from JP Byrnes on the goal-line allowed Jon Fletcher to dive over in the corner.

After this flurry of scoring activity the game did settle down for a while. However, an injury to Bedford's outstanding prop de St Aubins was a major blow to them, and it was W London who wrapped up the scoring with three minutes remaining, again stretching the defence on the left hand side of the field to let Steve Burkhill in on the wing. This brought the final score to W London II 40, Bedford II 24.

The win gave the West London side their second London League championship, their previous success coming in 2003. For Bedford, the Grand Final appearance is an indication of the continued growth of the club since their first grade side started play in the competition in 2004.