Old Priorians Move Up To Fourth

Victory over Thurrock

Old Priorians returned to Ealing on Saturday after a 42-34 win against 2nd place Thurrock and move to 4th in the London 1 (North) table.

The weekend promised to be one of the tougher encounters for the Old Priorians in front of a hostile Thurrock crowd. The conditions were perfect and the spectacle of rugby that took centre stage did not disappoint.

Old Priorians opened their account with 10 minutes on the clock, Ross McIntosh breaking the line to go under the posts. Thurrock were quick to respond with long periods of pressure in the OP’s half, resulting in a try and 3 penalties. At 20-7 it looked like a long day at the office for the men from Ealing. It isn’t in this teams nature to roll over and on stroke of half time captain Andrew Wilkie made his presence felt busting through a brace of tackles before getting a decisive offload to Maynard Ahukanna who went under the posts unopposed bringing the score to 20-14 at half-time.

The second half got underway with the Thurrock forwards, scoring from a lineout early in the second half. What happened in the 10 minute period that followed was some of the best rugby the Perivale team have played at this level, demonstrating the expansive game that the club is becoming a trademark of the club. Back rower Jamie Harries made a decisive 40m break finished off by Aristide Goualin in the corner. The winger added to his tally 2 minutes later with another dazzling run and going over for another score. At this point it was raining tries in Essex and time for the front row to get in on the act as Charlie Allum bundled over after another well worked team try. The Old Priorians were going into the final 20 minutes with the scores at 35-27 up and with Ross McIntosh’s boot reliably picking up the 2 points every time they were on offer.

Daniel Porter added another with a busting run, shrugging off three defenders before going under the sticks. The OPs were set for a memorable win away from home. Thurrock pulled one back but it was not enough and another decisive tackle from Porter denied the hosts a losing bonus point. Head coach Anthony Andrews described this as a decisive weekend in the clubs season and with the second team the ‘Saints’ winning a high scoring encounter against Rosslyn Park IVth to maintain an unbeaten start to the season it may well prove to be.

The old boys have a weeks break in the league this weekend but will be expecting a large crowd when hosting local team and league new comers, Civil Service on the 24th October in what is sure to be a fiery enquiry.

To follow the Old Priorians progress throughout the season please follow @OPRFC

13th October 2015