ICRUFC: Stunning 2nd XV top League table

This week’s game was a big one, a clash between the top two teams in the league. We got onto the pitch and began the warm up with a sense of intensity and hunger. Everyone knew what was at stake. As UEL made their way out to warm up we did notice that a few of their players looked older than our very own Ifan Dafydd, which was slightly worrying considering he has just started hair loss treatment. However, that was not going to stop us from giving it our all.

The game kicked off and both teams began at a blistering pace. However, IC were playing all of the rugby. Had it not been for a few silly mistakes, along with a few pieces of dirty play on their behalf, we could have put away a fair few tries within the first ten minutes. Eventually, their criminal acts began to be punished and with a few beautiful touch finders we managed to secure territory as well as possession. We capitalised on this when, amidst the opposition floundering at the ruck (causing absolute chaos), George Nicholas perfectly read the crowd dynamics to pierce the centre of a ruck and barrel over the line. 5-0 to Imperial. An increasing amount of pressure from UEL and a lapse in concentration from the Imperial boys resulted in UEL’s forwards bundling over the line to score a try, which they converted to make it 7-5. Following a regroup we picked up the quality once again and George went over for his second try of the game. 10-7.

“Being used to handling big balls under pressure, yours truly picked up and ran around the scrum”

The second half saw the UEL boys get more aggressive and fatigued. Oddly enough, this definitely didn’t correlate with the many injuries and stoppages they began to sustain meaning water could be brought on for the larger lads who, at this point, were blowing. This did not phase us as we knew that we were capable of getting the win and even a bonus point. We continued to play our game, taking the ball up through the forwards and then giving it to the backs to play their expansive game plan. This led to one of the best tries of the match, that saw the centres and wings connect up passing it back and forth to beat several of the UEL backs, resulting in Sam Joon Won Ha running it over the line to score his first try. 17-7 to Imperial. The game began to draw to a close as we pushed for that bonus point. Unfortunately, we managed to knock-on a break through that would have got us the point. This led to a final scrum for them on their five metre line. The forwards gave their final push of the game and managed to win the scrum and the ball came squirting out of the back. Being used to handling big balls under pressure, yours truly picked up and ran around the scrum, selling the best dummy of my playing career and diving over the line to secure the bonus point for the IC boys. The game finished 22-7. What a result.

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