Wednesday 21st October saw the LSE 3rd XV face off against University of Creative Arts’ 1sts, with both teams looking for their first victory of the season. LSE started the first half strongly, building on rampaging pack play led by captain Ben “Judas” Leith and Teddy “The Machine” Groves. Sustained pressure from the LSE forwards led to a series of overlaps resulting in constant line-breaks by the backs, culminating in a brilliant darting try from inside centre Alexey Teplukhin.
LSE showed no signs of letting up after the restart. A period of relentless pressure lead to a quick second try after some delightful offload play by the forwards sent hooker Lawrence “Birthday Boy” Koo over the try line. A third try soon followed, making the score 17-0 to LSE. However, as half-time approached, the opposition exposed Alvin Chat’s lack of pace, which he later blamed on poor visibility, delayed reactions, the consumption of 47 pints and 92 vodka shots the night before, etc. A speculative cross-field kick resulted in a corner try for Creative Arts.
Complacency crept in at the start of the second half, with LSE allowing their 17-5 lead to turn into a 17-19 deficit after giving away two tries in the space of 5 minutes. Battling bravely, LSE were not about to let an elusive first victory slip away. 10 minutes from time, replacement centre Folajomi Fawehinmi embarked on a highlight reel run through the opposition pack, putting on a tackle-breaking clinic featuring multiple handoffs and a cheeky Joe Rokocoko spin move that saw LSE go up 22-19.
Confident play closed out the match and LSE were unlucky not to add to the score following the dominating pack assault orchestrated by scrumhalf Bong. A gorgeous looping cross-field kick from the boot of Campbell McElroy was unfortunately knocked on just 10 metres from the try line in the dying seconds.
Most importantly, the famous victory has resulted in the LSE 3rd XV leapfrogging the 2nd XV in the BUCS league table, despite their league-worst point difference of -130. When pressed for comment, LSE “2nd” XV Captain Dewi Hall Evans was visibly distraught – “Devastated. Just devastated. We will be back”. Brave words, but with a brief hiatus from matches for both teams lying ahead, the LSE 3rd XV will hold on to their title as The Real Second XV for at least another two weeks.
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