SAINTS had to come from behind to win a scrappy game 34-20 against a typically spirited Broncos outfit, writes Graham Henthorne.
They were losing by ten points with half an hour to go but started to get a grip and cut out the errors that had plagued their performance but really had to dig in to move forward.
Despite playing downhill in the first period the Saints found it hard to maintain any kind of pressure which, in the hot, humid conditions was their downfall. Added to this, the loss of Liam Cooper after 25 minutes to concussion and Greg Richards after 30 minutes to a sin-bin then first team standby duty meant that the Saints had only 15 men to call on for the whole of the second half.
Tries from Spedding and Eccleston meant that the Saints raced into a ten point lead but saw that gradually whittled away to a 4 point deficit at the break.
Ultimately, superior fitness tolled and the saints started to claw back the advantage from their hosts.
André Savelio started to show his true potential after the break taking control of the go forward making significant inroads on each carry. As ever when the forwards are on top it makes the job of the halves that much easier and this was the case after the break.
Jonah Cunningham started the revival with a converted try and when Savelio got just rewards for his efforts Charnock’s third goal of the day saw the Saints hit the front again.
Fozard’s try saw the Saints open an eight point gap and a bit of breathing space before Richardson’s try and Charnock’s fifth goal put the icing on the cake.
Both “new” players, Lewis Charnock at hooker and Matty Fozard at loose forward continued to improve in their new positions with Jonah Cunningham shining off the bench. There was a debut off the bench for yet another Welsh trialist Luke Davies but Jake Spedding continued his run of fine form recently to finish as Saints best.
Match Summary:
London U19s:
Tries: Alex Walker, Brandon Johnson, Isaac Johnson.
Goals: Charlie Lawrence 4.
Saints U19s:
Tries: David Eccleston, Jake Spedding, Danny Richardson, André Savelio, Matty Fozard, Jonah Cunningham.
Goals: Lewis Charnock 5.
Half Time: 10-14
Full Time: 34-20
Teams:
London:
1. Alex Walker; 2. Dapo Awofolu, 3. Harvey Burnett, 4. Kieran Morgan, 5. Brandon Johnson; 6. Charlie Lawrence, 7. Dan Gregory; 8. Toby Everett, 9. Sean Osbourne, 10. Alex Taverner, 11. Dan Igbinedion, 12. Oliver Toms, 13. Sadiq Adebiyi.
Subs: 14. Liam O’Callaghan, 15. Junior Ibrahim, 16. Isaac Johnson, 17. Ash Gingell.
Saints:
1. Adam Saunders; 2. David Eccleston, 3. Jake Spedding, 4. Matty Fleming, 5. Lewis Galbraith; 18. Danny Richardson, 7. Dave Hewitt; 8. Greg Richards, 9. Lewis Charnock, 10. André Savelio, 11. Liam Cooper, 12. Olly Davies, 13. Matty Fozard.
Subs: 14. Jonah Cunningham, 17. Ross McCauley, 19. Joe Ryan, 20. Luke Davies.
