Tees beat Ruislip

Rugby returned to Oakfield after a long break due to weather and the festive holidays, and the home crowd were rewarded with a victory to open 2011. The pitch despite heavy overnight rain was in fine condition, and a hard game was expected as Thurrock lost earlier in the season at Ruislip when imploding and conceding three late tries.

Hopefully it was payback time with both teams playing physical rugby but neither side were able to create any clear cut chances. The deadlock was finely broke when Mark Brandon gratefully accepted a penalty in front of the posts to put the home side ahead. Ruislip came back strong but two kickable penalties went astray and could not get on the score sheet, and Thurrock made them pay, in the next foray downfield the home side had an attacking scrum, and from a set move off the base the ball was fed to Ben Stanley who wriggled his way over in the corner, Brandon then added the conversion from the touchline to give them a 10-0 half time lead.

The second half continued in the same vein with very limited scoring chances, an early Ruislip penalty gave the visitors some hope, and Thurrock should have put the match to bed when encamped on the Ruislip line they failed to score despite four consecutive 5 meter scrums, the first of which was given after a forward drive resulted in a try, that was not given, the referee being unsighted as the ball was grounded. Brandon added a penalty to give the home side some breathing space, and two more successful penalties in the last ten minutes wrapped up the points and a deserved albeit ugly win.