RUGBY: IC hammer East London
In a shocking defeat for UEL, Imperial’s 2nd XV return triumphant with a 65-0
Imperial 2s made the journey to West Ham on Wednesday to play their 4th match of the season against East London University 1st XV. After an easy ride so far in the league, Imperial were hoping for an opposition that would provide some serious competition to test the lads’ capabilities. After the first few minutes it was clear that this was not going to be the case. All it took were a few good phases and solid line breaks in the opposition 22 for IC to cross the white wash early on.
Imperial were up against a side with big runners, but this threat was cut off at source with good tackling from the team all around. We were able to punch some holes ourselves, with big running from the back line. Captain Gavin Roberts also proved himself very difficult to stop, with his small stature and quick legs hard to follow, sometimes even by his own team. Backs moves flowed well, often being finished by the wheels on winger Will Goldberg. The rest of the game went on in a similar fashion, with four tries completed by the end of the first half.
Nominated goal kicker, Kieran Donnelly, had a good game off the tee, bar failing to slot one directly in front of the posts, blaming chat from the opposition for his misdemeanour.
The second half started with Imperial tries, and finished with Imperial tries
After the first half, it was clear that Imperial were the dominant side. The second half started with Imperial tries, and finished with Imperial tries. IC finally met some good competition in the scrums, but after 60 minutes they went uncontested following a knock to the head taken by opposition hooker. A clean sheet was kept thanks to a solid D all around from the boys, and in particular, good cover tackles from Carlos Sheppard. The forwards played well as a pack, being dominant in the lineouts in both attack and defence, and also in the scrum with awesome steals from hooker, John Welsh.
Towards the end of the match, Imperial were playing against a 13-man side after two opposition players went off with injury with no one to replace them – perhaps an unnecessary additional advantage for College. To everyone’s relief, the match was called off five minutes early after two tries in quick succession from IC, and that was it. Final score 65-0. Quite easily the most clinical performance from the Imperial 2s so far.
