Effingham & Leatherhead 16 bt Old Mid-Whitgiftian 10

The Mids visited an Eagles team replenished since their slow start to the season on Saturday but were denied victory in controversial circumstances.

The first 30 minutes were monumentally tedious and only an Eagles penalty troubled the scorers.

But sporadic outbreaks of violence livened things up.

The referee shrewdly yellow-carded and sin-binned a player from each side and almost immediately Mids scored a cracking try.

Simon King took a long pass on the left wing, made ground and popped the ball inside.

Several quick phases later Stuart Higgins got the ball away to King for a try.

Crouch converted to make it 7-3.

But the Eagles scored a dubious try straight from the restart with the aid of what seemed to be a knock-on for a 10-7 half-time lead.

A penalty increased their lead but the critical moment was the controversial awarding of a penalty for crossing in front of Mark MacAskill.

The resulting three points gave Mids a two-try deficit to recover.

Simon Elliss made a couple of threatening runs from deep and Jose Fernandez made a 50m run only to be dragged down at the line.

Eventually, a late Dan Crouch penalty was the only reply made.

December 5, 2001 14:00