Kingston vs LSA

17 March 2007

London South Africa RFC (LSA) have safely beaten off a challenge from Kingston for the coveted second-place in the Surrey One league, leaving them well on-track for a place in the play-offs for promotion into the London Leagues. LSA had expected a tough contest on Saturday, from a side that had only lost two of their previous 15 games and had crept their way into third place in Surrey One. But LSA had come prepared to give no corner to the opposition, and once again unleashed the massive try-scoring machine that has seen them average 50 points per game in their last five matches. LSA’s strength, according to coach Bob Crooks, is their free-flowing style of play, which was on full display in the first twenty minutes, as LSA ran in the first four of their seven tries. The next twenty minutes proved more difficult as LSA repeatedly found many decisions going against them, and got bogged down in a more physical game. With direction from Crooks at half-time to stay on their feet and just focus on doing the basics really well, LSA quickly regained their dominance of the game in the second half, and ran in a few more tries.

Reflecting on the game afterwards, Crooks said “I gave them a game plan and they executed it perfectly. I’m very happy. They were magnificent”. Man of the match was Malcolm Mirfin, who with his blistering pace was able to repeatedly penetrate Kingston’s defence. LSA now have just two league games to go, against fairly low-ranking sides, and will be ensuring that there are no slip-ups that could jeopardise their place in the play-offs. This Saturday sees LSA play Sutton and Epsom RFC in a Surrey Cup match. To find out more visit www.londonsouthafricarfc.co.uk.

Surrey XV:
Gerrie Kruger, Werner Swanepoel, Aldo du Plessis, Justin Rose, Christian van Rooyen, Jake Hodinott, Tiaan Visser, Anton Kriel, Vaughan Gilson, Matt Fendick, Nick de Kock, Nick Osman, Dave Blackburn, Louis van Zyl, Malcolm Mirfin, Gary Johnston, Peter Howlett, Mark Porter.