ICURFC: New year, same old 2s

Last Wednesday saw the first match of the year for Imperial 2nd XV against RUMS (UCL medics) 2nd XV. This was an opportunity to continue with our winning form from before the holidays, and also to prove to coach LJ that the fitness work we had done before Christmas had not been completely undone. The match kicked off and IC instantly put RUMS under pressure. We set the tone in defence early on, with some big hits coming in from Will Bolton and happy George Nicholas. Harry Brady didn’t take long to injure an opposition player, and due to their lack of subs they were down to 14 men. Poor discipline was preventing us from taking hold of the match. A neat backs move opened up a hole for Jack Fraser, who ran over in the corner for the first try of the match. 5-0 to Imperial. After some nice offloads between the forwards, we managed to get into their 22. A couple of simple passes later, I found myself going over the whitewash. Fraser converted and made the score 12-0.

“We set the tone in defence early on, with some big hits coming in”

Not wanting the match to be too easy, naughty Elliot Quigley took it upon himself to even up the numbers. He put in a malicious dump tackle on one of their players and was given ten minutes on the sidelines to reflect on his actions. Half-time came and went, and soon Elliot was allowed back onto the pitch. We knew we could be playing better. A dangerous scrum, five metres from the opposition try line, gave the forwards an opportunity to show everyone how big they were. The RUMS pack was driven back over their try line and Elliot touched down on the ball for an easy try. 17-0. A scrum on the halfway line allowed the backs to show what they could do. A perfectly executed ‘whitey’ ended up with the ball out wide. Hugo Koide decided that the 3v1 was too risky, so he took the ball into contact and got tackled. Luckily, Sam Ha was there in support for the offload and some quick hands put Sorrell over in the corner. A conversion from Dan Kirrane made the score 24-0.

“After the restart, our forwards showed their dominance again”

Complacency at having secured a bonus point for scoring four tries got the better of some of us. RUMS were able to run through a dog leg in our defence and score their only try of the game. After the restart, our forwards showed their dominance again by breaking tackles and pulling off some incredible offloads. Particular mention has to be given to Tom Johnston, who managed to draw in their outside centre and winger, one of which he was pretty much giving a piggyback to, and then pass it out the back to Hugo – without looking. Even their players were in disbelief. Hugo took the ball into contact, again deeming an overlap too risky. Powerful running from our forwards allowed us to get close to their try line, and sneaky Elliot dived through the middle of a ruck to score his second try. Dan added the extras to make it 31-7. A now-tired RUMS team kicked off again to us, and some more good hands down the wing quickly allowed Sorrell to score his second try, making him the second team member eager to avoid scoring a hat-trick. Final score 36-7 to Imperial. Sylvia is back.