Streatham made the trek to North East London to play Ilford Wanderers who are having a good season having only lost one match prior to this Junior Vase clash. The Frant Road side travelled with a number of changes from recent weeks and it demonstrates the strength in depth of the club that all those bough into the side made their mark.
Ilford had by far the biggest pack that Streatham have faced this season and it was obvious form the kick off that their giant forwards would be using route one all day and play a direct game plan. Throughout the game Streatham put in a huge number of tackles and their high tempo game enabled them to cut loose regularly following periods of Ilford pressure. The first score came from quick turnover ball with Ed Williams making a break in midfield which was carried on by Josh Smith, who had an outstanding game with ball in hand and saw home go over in the corner. From the restart a mistake gave Ilford the ball and their forwards were able to work a position to drive over for ac converted try. The game settled into a pattern of Ilford drives and Streatham turnovers and breaks and skipper Cassemis went through a hole to put winger Auguiste in for a score to make it 12-7 before another flowing back movement from Streatham saw the skipper score himself to make it 19-7. Ilford were not deterred however and another long series of forward drives saw them make another score 19-14. At the restart Ilford put together an impressive series of drives, despite several massive hits from the Streatham defenders to close out the half with another score making it 21-19 to Ilford at Half time.
An early penalty to Ilford at the start of the second half made it 24-19 but from the restart some fierce Streatham tackles won another turnover and the ball was moved wide quickly to Vinnie Auguiste who beat the cover defence for his second score of the day and males the scores level at 24 all. It was then the turn of Streatham’s other winger Elvin Grant who broke from his own 22 to score under the posts before Barney Barnes, who led the Streatham defence at the breakdown superbly all day, to finish off another flowing move. Ilford were not finished however and were able to rumble over again to make it 36-29 but |Streatham were now playing some fine attacking rugby and were stopped just short on several occasions before fullback Dave Langmead touched down to make the final score 41-29.
The result puts Streatham into the last 16 of the London and South east section of the Vase with the next round to be played February 6th.
The Thornton Heath club have a big week ahead of them with the 1str XV playing the other unbeaten side in their League, Reeds Weybridge, away next Saturday whilst at the same time the Scorpions who top their league, face a home encounter against Woking and the 3rd XV face Haslemere and hope to continue their winning run. The selectors will have some difficult decisions to make with an ever increasing squad of players vying for positions.