London One North Sudbury 22 Ruislip 30 Despite a battling second half fightback, Sudbury were left counting the cost of three gifted first half tries, and ended up without a point in a game they desperately needed to win to boost hopes of London League One rugby next season.
An error strewn first half – passes being dropped, tackles being missed – handed Ruislip the initiative, all the more disappointing as Sudbury had started so well, and should have taken a third-minute lead, only for the final pass to fail to stick.
And with their first real attack, Ruislip took the lead, Michael Reed going over after bursting through some poor tackling in the eighth minute. Stu Pearham converted.
Chris Lewis and Pearham exchanged penalties before Ruislip struck again in the 23rd minute, Danny Barry taking advantage of poor tackles and Pearham adding the extras.
Sam Hainsworth ran in unopposed in the 32nd minute, Pearham converting, but Sudbury raised their game, and a fine passing move saw Chris Lewis go over out wide in the 38th minute. Lewis converted.
And when Charles Jackson rounded off another good move in the 49th minute, Lewis again converting, Sudbury were just seven points adrift and it was game on.
But Pearham kicked another penalty after 57 minutes, and then increased Ruislip’s lead when he landed a dropped goal ten minutes later.
Sudbury battled back, Lewis scoring in the corner five minutes from the end. But he was narrowly off target with the conversion, and the losing bonus point was missed.
A memorial lunch and auction in memory of former player Mark Pinnegar, who died suddenly at the age of 52 last year, saw £10,000 raised to help his family. His number 6 shirt was retired for the day, and prior to the match there was a minute’s applause.
Sudbury remain deep in trouble at the bottom of the London One table, sitting 13th of 14 teams, just a point above rock-bottom Barking. They do have a game in hand over many teams in the division though, and must start putting a run of wins - preferably with the bonus point - together to start climbing out of danger.
They next travel to Fullerians, after a week off, on March 4.
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