True to the form guide, the home side started the stronger and Nigerian soon found themselves having to stoically and, on occasion, frantically defend their try line.  Aggressive defending from the makeshift back row of Leon Lam, Ali Shelleng and Jim Morrison did enough to disrupt the flow of the Chiswick halfbacks thus keeping them at bay.  Then came the Wunder Try:

Putting in to a defensive scrum on their own 5-metre line, Nigerian were under immense pressure knowing one mistake could gift the opening score to their hosts. The front 5 held firm giving Gabriel Odediran time to get his pass away to Luke Davids at fly half.  The mercurial[*] Davids shaped to clear but an onrushing Chiswick defender caused him to check and sidestep, a second defender was evaded in similar fashion and all of a sudden, finding a big hole opening up in front of him tore away down the blindside with Ugo Ekeowa in support.  The latter carried play out of the 22 before looking infield to find his skipper haring up alongside him. Shelleng Snr shipped the ball onto Jon Knott who immediately offloaded on to Ibi Shelleng on his outside.  Shelleng Jnr straightened the line, beating one defender and carrying play into the Chiswick half.  With defenders converging on him he spun out a delightful pass to Ik Iroche holding a wide position on the right wing. Iroche beat the Chiswick fullback with a step off his left foot and was able to hold off a second defender long enough to touch the ball down in the right corner.

Sparked by Davids, London Nigerian, totally against the run of play took the lead by scoring a contender for Try of the Season, one try line to another in the space of 12 or 13 seconds – the handling of the Nigerian backs making a mockery of the wet conditions.

At this point, much credit must go to Chiswick.  Having conceded 5 points to a trademark swashbuckling London Naija try, they could have suffered a crisis of confidence and retreated into their shells.  On the contrary, they dusted themselves off and went right back to Plan A.  Playing without the ball for long stretches of the game, the Nigerian defence proved itself as stubborn as any Lagos street hawker.  It took a flash of inspiration from the home side’s no. 9 to finally breach the black & green wall.  From an attacking scrum just outside the 22, he showed remarkable acceleration and elusive running to evade the despairing grasps of at least 4 Nigerian defenders before showing enough composure to ground the ball despite the distractions of a strong Ekeowa tackle on the line.  An excellent conversion by his No. 10 gave his side the lead they would not relinquish at 7 – 5.

Playing with the wind and the slope in the 2^nd half, Nigerian expected to be able to carve the winning scores.  They enjoyed a greater share of ball possession as their pack took the ascendancy. For a welcome change, the opposing team, desperate to keep hold of their slender lead, fell foul of the referee’s whistle more often.  However, with Ekeowa failing to convert the only one of thee penalties that came within kicking range, Nigerian were unable to capitalize. Chiswick on the other hand were able to extend their lead in the final quarter when their kicker succeeded in kicking one penalty through the sticks.

At 10 – 5, Nigerian were just a converted try away from regaining the lead but the Chiswick defence played with real heart and intelligence to repeatedly deny them.  The visitors’ best chance of the quarter fell to Iroche but this time around, he was well-shackled and the opportunity spurned.  Chiswick finally finished off the game with their best passage of play.  They took possession down one side of the pitch and then, very quickly, the other way stretching a tiring Nigerian defence just enough for their left wing to sidestep his way over the whitewash from 5 metres out.  15 – 5 with 6 minutes of play left, it was all over bar a little huffing and puffing.

Man of the Match

The scoreline notwithstanding, several Nigerian playas stood up to be counted.  Skipper Ali Shelleng had another outstanding game in defence; Ian Morrison was all-action across the park.  The front row of Mohammed, Hanlon & Omokhodion were rampant in the 2^nd half while the back line always looked dangerous with ball in hand.  Man of the Match though, went to the excellent Leon Lam playing out of position at blindside blanker (as opposed to the left wing).  His tackling, particularly in the first half repeatedly saved his team’s blushes

Report by Ik Iroche

Next Week

The 4^th Annual Carl Christian Memorial Day – typically the biggest in the club’s sporting year – will take place at the Linford Christie Stadium.  An All-Star team of London Naija x-Playas will take on Belsize Park (the side against whom Carl donned his boots for the last time before departing us for a better place) in an early kick-off before the 1^st XV take to the field against old rivals Finchley in a game that has all the hallmarks of a Relegation Dogfight.

If you come to watch one game this season, make it this one.  There will be a full house, plenty of food (jollof) and drink (Gulder) and emotions will run high on the pitch as Carl’s old friends wage battle in his honour.

London Nigerian RFC

1. Omokhodion, Osahon
2. Hanlon, Stephen
3. Mohammed, Usman
4. Morrison, Ian
5. Van der Linden, Brad
6. Lam, Leon
7. Shelleng, Aliyu (C)
8. Morrison, Jim (r: Ahukanna 70mins)
9. Odediran, Gabriel
10. Davids, Luke
11. Williams, Gareth
12. Knott, Jonathan
13. Shelleng, Ibi
14. Iroche, Ik
15. Ekeowa, Ugo

1. Ahukanna, Maynard
2. Irele, Francis (Lloyd Bizzle)

Nigerian played into the wind for the first half, and it was this force 10 gale that proved to have a major impact on the game. Medicals came at Nigerian for the first 5 minutes, and although the Nigerian pack had the advantage at scum time and at the breakdown; the backline were unable to clear their line with any efficiency. The Hungarian Referee gave a penalty after 5 minutes for “hands in the maul” and the efficient Medicals kicker converted easily. From the restart a booming 70 yard kick saw Medicals close to the Nigerian line; a wayward lineout resulted and the ball spilled, much to the horror of the Nigerians a gleeful Medical’s flanker pounced for the opening try. The 2nd try came soon after and again came from an error; with Nigerian trying to run the ball out of defence, miscommunication saw the ball intercepted again for an easy try. Nigerian fought back and a well worked driving maul from 20 metres out saw Yinka Omilani crash over for an excellent try, the conversion was missed. Nigerians were unable to capitalise on this though and the Imperial Medicals added two further tries, largely due to missed tackles. Half-time – Imperial 30 – London Nigerian 5.

The 2nd half initially looked to be going the same way, as straight from the re-start, the impressive Imperial left winger skipped round his man to score an easy try in the corner. After 50 minutes Nigerian were looking down the barrel of a large defeat. However the sun emerged from behind a cloud, the wind abated and the Nigerian pack roared into life. Not content with a defeat, the front 3 of Osahon Omokhodion, Steve Hanlon and Guy Roberts completely dismantled their opposite numbers; any scrum resulted in Nigerian ball. The rampaging Hartley and Davey took full advantage of this and made huge inroads into the Medicals territory. The first try saw Yuki Omenai finish well after slick hands from the Shelleng brothers in the centre, set him free down the left. Soon after Nigerians carried deep into the Medicals half following a break by Odediran and quick recycling saw Anthony Obiekwe smash through the line; with a 3 man overlap, Ibi Shelleng was able to keep up his near try-a-game record and give the Nigerians a sniff of victory. The next 15 minutes proved sterile, as after a series of bizarre calls from the ref – including a “foot fault” at the lineout, and penalising a rampant Nigerian scrum for collapsing (?!) – the game lost a lot of its continuity.

However Nigerian were ready for one last push, and following another strike against the head from the omnipotent Hanlon, playing his 50th game in Nigerian colours, Hartley made a break deep into Imperial territory; Morrison was on hand to continue the run, and from the resulting ruck, the gargantuan Omokhodion proved unstoppable. Medicals kicked off and the tireless Davey again brought the ball to the Medicals; his offload saw the evergreen, yet ever fast Ekeowa scream through on a great line only to be stopped close to the whitewash. Medicals put in meant nothing, as Nigeria turned the ball over for the 6th consecutive scrum. Odediran switched with Davids who powered through the line, finishing under the posts, Ekeowa (finally) nailed a conversion to give a sense of respectability to the scoreline, 37 -27.

15 Ugo Ekeowa

14 Yuki Omenai

13 Ibi Shelleng

12 Ali Shelleng

11 Antony Bayne-Charles

10 Luke Davids

9 Gabriel Odediran

1 Ossie Omokhodion

2 Steve Hanlon

3 Guy Roberts

4 Ian Morrison

5 Anthony Obiekwe

6 Andy Davey

7 Yinka Omilani (Barrett 55mins)

8 Rob Hartley

16 Leon Barrett

17 Usman Mohammed

18 Bobby Nolla

Tries: Omilani, Omenai, Omokhodion, I Shelleng, Davids

Conversion: Ekeowa

Men of The Match: The Forward Eight

Report by Ian Morrison