East London v Epping Upper Clapton 21.02.15

Who Said 13 Is Unlucky ??

“We will be looking, as always, to improve our game by increasing our accuracy and precision in all our tasks across the park”. Coach Dean Cutting uttered those words after Epping beat East London on a bright and chilly early spring afternoon, even if we did win by a handsome margin. We are improving with each game and training session to a game, of that there is no doubt, but it’s not yet perfect!

From the off, East London really put the cat amongst the pigeons and started with a real intent and attacked us with conviction and determination: good, strong defense from us in the early stages kept them out however. Eventually we worked the ball into EL territory, which resulted in start of 13 match try’s.

But the opposition came straight back at us, with a renewed vigour and determination to set the lads at every opportunity. With the ball moving through the hands of both backs and forwards, Epping proceeded to almost score at will and in particular in the left hand corner.

From the start of the second half the spectators were treated to 40 minutes of superb rugby, with every player in a red and white shirt demonstrating their ability to run, pass and support. They were attacking the East London defense from all areas of the field and every time the boys got the ball, we looked dangerous. Numerous tries resulted and all special in their own way. It was even heard from the sidelines that this was the best “support” rugby seen by Epping for a long time. The ability and willingness to attack with ball in hand from all sections of the park was genuinely entertaining – unless you happened to be an opposition player !

It was a scintillating final 40 minutes of rugby and Epping went towards the whistle with a 0-79 scoreline and the away crowd was buzzing with anticipation for what is in store for the remainder of the season.

Epping are blessed with some every growing depth to their squad this season so this was a perfect opportunity for the coaches to see what the squad could do. Even with key players being rested.