Another Nigerian performance that scored high on effort but lacked for coolheaded precision in the execution of the game plan. The thinness of this Nigerian squad was also painfully revealed – exactly 3 weeks after putting out 2 sides with over 40 players (& x-playas), the home team found itself scrambling around on the Friday night for 3 men to provide bench cover. Two absentees were sorely missed – Line-out Metronome Ian Morrison and Silent But Deadly Craig Castle. Without the former, Nigerian failed to win possession at crucial stages of the game in parts of the field where the visitors should have been vulnerable. Without the latter to continue his stingy defensive partnership with skipper, Ali Shelleng the midfield battles proved profitable for the strong-running Tabard centres.

As is expected, Nigerian made light of these shortcomings and were very much in the contest till the final quarter by which time a couple of questionable refereeing calls had switched the momentum Tabard’s way.  The home side broke the deadlock through a well finished Winston Bell-Gam try followed by a Joshua Bruce conversion for a 7-0 lead. The visitors did not take long to restore parity, sustained pressure eventually buckling the Nigerian rearguard action and evening the scores at 7 apiece. Nigerian defensive lapses allowed the visitors to double their points tally and take the lead for the first time as they raced to a 7 – 14 advantage.

Not long after, the referee made the first of his controversial calls. Nigerian ran the ball from their half with Ibi Shelleng – making his first start of the season after a long injury lay off – beating his man on the outside to race into the Tabard 22.  The opposition full back halted his progress with an excellent tackle and with the supporting playas a little slow to arrive, the Nigerian wing was adjudged to have held on to the ball too long in the tackle and a penalty was awarded against him.  The real shock however was that the referee followed this up with a yellow card – a complete misuse of the sin-binning law in this scribe’s humble opinion.

Tabard made a pig’s ear of the restart knocking on to present the home side with an attacking scrum.  Nigerian found the visiting defence difficult to break down but the forwards recycled the ball well ensuring a period of sustained possession. Eventually, a break through came as Ugo Ekeowa made a half break found Shelleng on his outside shoulder and the latter straightened the line and rode a tackle to pop up a pass to Anthony Obiekwe in close support. Obiekwe showed more composure and better handling skills than your typical second row flicking the ball on off his fingertips to Bell-Gam, whose line and pace carried him over the whitewash out on the left touchline. Bruce came close with the conversion but at 12 – 14, the missed kick was not too great an inconvenience.

Tails up, Nigerian should have turned the screw on their visitors. However, they made a complete hash of the restart turning the ball over in the 22 for a very easy Tabard score to restore the 7 point advantage at 12 – 19.  Not long after Shelleng Jr. returned to the fray, the Nigerian open side and Tabard scrumhalf were dispatched to the sin-bin for fighting.  Tabard handled the disruption better keeping the home team pinned in its own half before eventually clocking up another score through the referee’s second suspect call – the visiting player stealing the ball from the back of a Nigerian ruck on 5 metres having come in from the side, no where near the theoretical “gate” through which players are expected to arrive at the breakdown.  To compound Nigerian woes, Lam took exception to this and took a petulant swing at the try scorer. The referee showed him a red card and awarded a yellow to the Tabard flanker.

Playing the final quarter one man down and having already lost Obiekwe due to cracked ribs, the loss of scrum half Bruce, effectively ended the Nigerian challenge as the hastily reshuffled side struggled to cope with a Tabard side riding a wave of confidence.  The visitors kicked a penalty to stretch the lead to 12 – 27 before scoring a late try to rub salt into their hosts’ wounds.  A job well done by the visitors, the hosts thankful of the two-week interval before their next fixture when they hope to welcome the return of a few injured soldiers.

Man of the Match: Not a vintage performance by any man in black & gold.  Special plaudits go to Leon Lam for Hit of The Day with the Tabard fullback requiring lengthy treatment after a particularly bruising “Rib-tickler”.  For his brace of scores early in the game, the award though, goes to Big Game Bell-Gam.