After an impressive win against South London side Askeans on the opening weekend of the season, Lordswood were aiming to keep up their winning record against visitors Erith.
With a similar side being fielded, Lordswood looked strong from the outset. After just two minutes of the game, Lordswood’s back line displayed their excellent hand speed crossing the gain line quickly and rounded off with a neat score from James Carroll. A solid start by the home side and another try for James after his impressive performance the previous weekend.
Lordswood then displayed power and resilience in the forwards with line outs being dominated by jumper Paul Hyland which was causing a series of problems to Erith’s defence.
In the 10th minute, Lordswood’s forwards were rewarded for an excellent drive to the try line which was orchestrated and executed by Mark Dorman. The try was then converted by Michael Scaife which then resulted in Lordswood taking further control of the game.
Despite Lordswood’s control, the games intensity increased with tempers flaring through a late tackle by Erith’s hooker on Mark Dorman. Lordswood responded through their back line with Scaife breaking from half way to then offload to Carroll for his second try of the game on the 17th minute. Once again, Scaife stepped up to add another two points to the score line and another blow for Erith.
Lordswood constantly pressed Erith into their own twenty two and from a strong scrum, Dennigan Tyson managed to break through multiple Erith players to score his first try for the club making it 24-0. Despite Erith’s pressure, Lordswood pace and strength of the scrum was proving too much and building a large score line for the home side.
Just before half time, Lordswood prop, Dave Evans, then made a sublime break, which surprised most fans and even the visiting team, outrunning the Erith winger in a foot race from his own 10 metre line. A grubber kick through and it was a try.
Despite the impressive score line, the scrum for Lordswood continued to cause problems with Mark Dorman pushing over for the scrum to then break a number tackles before scoring. 38-0 by the half way point.
Whether it was Lordswood taking their foot off of the pedal or the away side upping their game (or more likely a bit of both) for the first 15 minutes of the second half Erith pushed the home side back into their own 22. However, Lordswood’s defensive skills were up to the job. With strong tackles from skipper Chris Callaway, Allan Mount and Wayne Crowhurst in the forwards, Lordswood showed excellent commitment to keep Erith at bay.
At 59 minutes, Mark Dorman went over in the right hand side of the pitch taking the score to 43-0 and his third try of the match. Lordswood continued to put pressure on Erith and Dave Evans who had moved from prop to full back, managed to break through and beat off Erith’s backline to go over the try line. A man of the match performance from Evans.
Credit to Erith who kept playing until the final whistle but before it came, it was down to veteran Paul Notley to pick up at the breakdown and go straight through the Erith defence and put the final points on the board for the home side.
Lordswood provided a great spectacle for the first home game of the season and continued their 100% winning start to the new season.
Training is every Wednesday night at 7pm with new players welcome to come along.