Royal Arsenal 9 Kool and the Gang 5
The season got underway proper for Royal Arsenal this week with their game against Kool and the Gang.And while the Royals struggled to a draw in the same fixture last year, they had no such problems this time round.
RA had to kick off a bit of rust early in the game and conceded a pair of sloppy tries in the opening minutes.But from there, they recovered to put their foot on the gas and started racking up the tries.
Royal Arsenal sliced through KATG’s defensive line regularly and managed to offload the ball to Woolwich Arsenal loanees Katy and Ashley to get the scoreboard ticking over.
Kyle, in his last game for the side before his summer hiatus, was at his attacking best, gaining big ground a regular basis. But even more impressive was the team defence with Abbey and Jesse excelling as they shut down KATG attacks, along with Ali and Rhianna darting around on a rum-fueled rampage after two weeks in the Caribbean.
The pace of the game slowed down in the second half on a warm summer evening and RA finished the fixture comfortable victors.
Woolwich Arsenal 11 – Tagalog 13
After an easy win in their first match of the season, Woolwich Arsenal suffered a narrow defeat to the explosive Tagalog in their second game.
Despite racking up the points once again in an impressive attacking display, a lack of defensive organisation left Tagalog’s pace merchants too much room to run through, and they wasted no time in piling on the points.
However, despite a tough first half, WA would not be kept down and showed huge resilience to mount a comeback in the second period. Ashley again was unstoppable close to the try line, tallying up even more points to keep the game close.
And towards the end of time, another darting score brought WA within a point at 10-9. But a couple of defensive miscues left Tagalog’s speedy wingers enough space to run in a couple more tries and put the game out of reach.
Despite the loss, there was still plenty of talent on show from Woolwich and with another week or two to warm up into the new season, they’re still a good bet to be contending for top of the table honours.
Report by Joel Watson