Shield XV off to winning start against Sutton & Epsom....

Saturday 8th September

By Matt Aristizabal 

On the weekend that the World Cup gets underway, so does the London South Africans’ Canterbury Shield campaign as they took on Sutton & Epsom. With the London Leagues starting next week both teams were filled with players that will likely be competing for their respective first teams later on in the season, and coach Bob Crooks took the opportunity to blood his new players further, making it sixteen new signings this season to have pulled on the shirt.

After last weeks’ outstanding win confidence was high but Sutton & Epsom were a different proposition as LSA eventually ran out winners at the end of a hard match. The exiles started powerfully as fly half Johan Alberts went over after two minutes, but the lead did not last long as Sutton & Epsom converted their try on seven minutes to make it 5-7. Good work in the middle off a scrum and good support play allowed LSA to re-take the lead, as man of the match contender Warren Ross-Allen persisted in the left corner to go over and make it 10-7. Vaughn Gilson, coming back from injury, made it 15-7 after some good pressure in the right corner and quick hands off a penalty but Sutton & Epsom made the difference only one point when their winger went over and they converted. Just before the break they took the lead by kicking a penalty in front of the posts, and it looked as if the exiles could be made to pay for missing their kicks as the referee called half time.

A scrappy beginning to the second half didn’t allow either team to gain the upper hand, until Malcom Mirfin showed his pace and went over thanks to more good support play on 59 minutes. He got his second ten minutes later as scrum-half Gilson did well to put him over to make it 25-17. Sutton & Epsom made up some ground with a converted try to make it 25-22, but LSA made sure there was to be no last minute comeback as Mirfin broke well down the right, and after spreading the ball from left to right Ross-Allen completed his double with the last action of the game as it finished 30-22.

After scoring six tries in a difficult match, Mirfin and Ross-Allen were obvious choices for man of the match but whilst Bob Crooks praised his scorers he singled out Tiaan Visser for his consistency, hard work, quality and desire. Speaking after the game he said “Today’s match was good for us, it was always going to be tough and they provided us with a good challenge, just what we needed to stand us in good stead for next week when the Warriors start their season.”