Not as bad a result as first would appear.

The match was not played at the usual London Nigerians' ground of the Linford Christie Stadium, immediately beside Wormwood Scrubbs, but at the Imperial College ground at Hayes (between the M4 and Heathrow) with planes landing almost every thirty seconds. More significantly, the home side was nothing like a typical London Nigerians' in that they are almost all present or immediately past members of the College.

For those interested, the Hayes' ground is the training grounds of QPR.

The home team were just superior in attack and defence although the BE team played their hearts out for the full 8-0 minutes. They tackled strongly and competed well but just could not stem the tide of possession which went with the home side who scored early on with a converted try. The omens did not look well but BE held them out for over half an hour before try number two (and conversion) came from an overlap. The 1st XV responded well and were deep in the home 22 when they suffered a sucker blow: the clearance kick, from the home No 10, hit a BE player on the shoulders and the ball bounced nicely into the hands of their right winger who sprinted through, unopposed, for their third converted try to make it 21-0 at the break.

The pressure continued unrelented in the second half and they were able to force four more tries, two converted, but it was not all one way: DAN TAYLOR took several scrums against the head as well as being always present in the loose: PETER MOULTON made several breaks from around the base of the scrum but always found an opponent: there were other good moments although in no way did the 1st XV ever really look like scoring.

Next up, this Saturday, is Old Actonians at home - 2.30pm kick off.

PGY