The Nigerian cause wasn’t helped by a poor start finding themselves 12 – 0 down inside 10. Both tries resulted from Nigerian errors turning over possession deep in their own half, though the second of these was an excellent score as St Albans brought the blind side winger into the midfield to race in untouched, under the posts.

As the end of the first quarter approached, the visitors roused themselves and played their way back into the game. Led by the mobile forward pack, they forced a St Albans infringement 40 metres in front of the post and Joshua Bruce calmly stepped up to stroke the kick through and register Nigerian’s interest on the score board. The visitors immediately followed with the best passage of play of the entire game: Rob Hartley fielded the restart and charged up field skittling defenders in his path. Quick recycling from the ensuing ruck and Bruce shipped the ball left; good handling by Winston Bell-Gam & strong running by Leon Lam set the visitors free down the left touch line. Lam found Luke Davids on his inside and though the latter was unable to offload the scoring pass to Osondu Anodu on his right, he carried play deep into the St Albans 22. More rapid recycling and the halfbacks spun the ball right where – by way of a deft NFL pirouette – Maynard Ahukanna touched down without need for the men queuing up outside him. Bruce’s kick was wide but at 12 – 8, his side were definitely back in contention.

Nigerian were certainly in the mood now and maintained their high tempo game to the visible discomfort of the home defence. Ugo “Doctor Mercurial” Ekeowa sparked another score with a bit of magic. He spilled a low pass from Bruce, though without knocking on. And demonstrated his remarkable skills for improvisation as he regathered and jinked his way through the St Albans 10 and 12 and then holding off more tacklers for another ten metres before handing off to Hartley who then found Ahukanna in a foot of space, all the invitation he needed to race in from 20 metres out to dot down under the posts and give Nigerian the lead. Bruce’s conversion extended this lead to 12 – 15.

St Albans came back at their guests regaining the lead after another Nigerian mistake deep in their own half. 17 – 15. Ian Morrison was sent to the sin bin late in the half for an illegal tackle and the Saints attempted to turn the screw. Nigerian resistance was strong, the visitors holding out till half time without conceding another score.

The 2nd half was barely minutes old when Ekeowa earned his 2nd yellow card in as many weeks as the referee ran out of patience with repeated Nigerian infringements in defence. St Albans extended their lead with the penalty kick and 20 – 15 down with only 13 men, the odds were stacked firmly against the visitors. However, in a clear demonstration of the amount of talent available in the side, Nigerian dominated the next few minutes of play culminating in a barnstorming try by skipper, Ali Shelleng holding off 3 defenders to touch down on the left and restore parity at 20 – 20.

Upon the return of the errant Nigerians, all expected the unleashing of a torrent of green & black attackers. This failed to transpire as the bigger Saints pack began to punch its weight. They won a Nigerian scrum against the head and their backs struck quickly to regain the lead at 25 – 20 with about 10 minutes left to play. The forwards repeated this trick minutes later to score another try and extend the lead to 30 – 20. With less than 5 minutes left to play, the situation called for cool, clinical execution from the visitors. They delivered nothing like this allowing their visitors the last laugh via a final score that put a very generous gloss on the final score line for the Saints, 37 – 20.

Man of The Match: much maligned of late, Leon Barrett celebrated his return to the starting line up with a mature display of controlled aggression in the tight phases and good decision-making in the loose. The back row of Ahukanna, Neal Fetterman & Rob Hartley was exquisite and the main reason Nigerian shrugged off the loss of two players to the sin bin.

Next week: At home to Tabard

1. Guy Roberts
2. Steve Hanlon
3. Osondu Anodu
4. Ian Morrison
5. Leon Barrett
6. Neal Fetterman
7. Maynard Ahukanna
8. Rob Hartley
9. Josh Bruce
10. Ugo Ekeowa
11. Leon Lam (r: I Shelleng 65mins)
12. Jemi Akin-Olugbade
13. Ali Shelleng (C)
14. Luke Davids
15. Winston Bell-Gam (r: Iroche 75mins)
16. Ik Iroche
17. Ibi Shelleng