This was the first league fixture for 1871 2^nd team and the proof of the pudding, of all of the pre-season training, was in the eating.  A slightly nervy warm-up start, but with good focus across the squad board.

Once the whistle went, 1871 applied pressure on the West London players who fought hard to get out of their half, but after 6 minutes after wining a scrum against the head, the ball came out quickly from Liam Mulvihill (9) to the captain Harrison Slater (10) who fed the onrushing wrecking ball that is Alex Kritikos (12), who cut through the West London line at a rate of knots to score under the posts.  Harrison Slater slotted the extra points.

Joe Kelly (2) was next to score after 15 minutes, again as a result of a scrum and some quick phase play.  No conversion this time.

West London jumped on some slow 1871 reactions and after their own scrum went out on the blind side and tore off down the wide channel, then popped the ball to the supporting inside man to score and they took the extra points.  They were buoyed by this and worked to get back into the game, but just before the end of the half, at 36 minutes, Kavan Fitzpatrick (8) was on the back of a great carry from Ilan Trowbridge (13) who literally cut through the West London back line, showing his deceptive speed and strength, when he was finally tackled, Kavan Fitzpatrick saw a gap in the guard position and took of ball in hand, shocking the West London players who had all it seems, planted their feet.  Kavan’s score and Harrison Slater’s conversion re-enforced the 1871 lead.

The applied pressure from 1871 continued in the second half, as after 4 minutes Alex Kritikos once again crossed over the whitewash, securing the bonus point and Harrison Slater took the extras.  West London put up a fight and held 1871 at bay for the next 16 minutes, but also fought hard to try and secure some points of their own.  A really excellent defensive set by 1871 prevented this and at 20 minutes in my best try of the match came from Kimani Goppy (1).  This came from a West London lineout, which was stolen by 1871 and carried hard by Dan O’Mahony (3), who has re-enforced his ability to have the best post contact metres stats and when he did go eventually to ground, Kimani was on hand to pick up the ball and crash over the line.  No conversion.  The final try of the match came off the back of another Dan O’Mahony carry and a quite simply superb offload by Joe Kelly into the hands of Kavan Fitzpatrick who went over to score.  Harrison Slater took these extras.