London South Africa prove to be their own worst enemy losing out by a point

Saturday 4th November

On a beautiful day for rugby in west London LSA could take little solace from the opposition’s remarks that it was their toughest game of the season. The final score, 20-19 to London Exiles, has left LSA lying third in the table and the team wondering about two points dropped for the second time this season.

Their familiar slow start saw LSA turn around at the break 13 – 7 down. An early Exiles penalty and converted try in the corner after 20 minutes had put them ahead. On 25 minutes LSA had responded with a superb break by John Turner, the ball then passing through several sets of LSA hands before debutant Trevor Grundeleigh made the telling break and coasted in to score under the posts to close the gap to 3 points. A sin binning for Aldo du Plessis saw the Exiles add another three points before the break.

For the first 20 minutes of the second half not a lot improved for LSA – some good passages of play were interrupted either by the referee’s whistle or some unfortunate handling errors. The game looked to be over for LSA when some unusually poor tackling let the Exiles in for a soft score to give them a 13 point lead with 15 minutes to go.

True to their instincts LSA fought back well. Another debutant, Jarred Vock, plunged on a loose ball to score after some sloppy Exiles work from the kick off but couldn’t convert the extras to close the gap to 8 points. With 3 minutes remaining another score from LSA this time converted well from the touchline moved LSA to within a point but it wasn’t to be. Once again LSA had outscored the opposition on tries scored but with penalties clocking up against them it cost them dear. “We’re disappointed” said UK Director Justin Paige, “but we know there’s lots more to come from our guys – we’re already looking ahead to Croydon which will be another tough game for us”.

This weekend sees LSA welcome Croydon to Imber Court for what is now a must win game….

Surrey Squad:

Werner Swanepoel, Aldo Du Plessis, Ryan Williamson, Gareth Dickson, Anton Kriel, Keiran Gaffney, Daniel Meiring, John Turner, Jake Hoddinott, Jarred Vock, Nick Osman, David Blackburn, Trevor Grundeleigh, Gary Johnston, Malcolm Mirfin, Tom Hendry, Matt Fendick, Ellis Stanyon.