EAST LONDON START THE NEW YEAR WITH A 26-5 WIN AGAINST BARKING

Back to winning ways in local derby
East London completed a hat-trick of wins this season over District Line rivals Barking with a 26-5 victory at the Memorial Ground in West Ham on Saturday (January 5).
The home side exerted all the early pressure before fly-half Ryan Billinghurst opened the scoring with a penalty on 11 minutes and two minutes later had the game’s first try. A fine move across the backs saw outside centre Kevin O’Donoghue break and then offload the perfect pass to right wing Nick Finch to speed away under the posts. Billinghurst converted.
Barking scored a try on 24 minutes which was not converted before Billinghurst extended the home lead on 38 minutes with a penalty to extend the lead to 13-5 at the break.
East London began the second half as they ended the first. The home pack continued to make ground at will while in defence they disrupted Barking’s play and allowed them only crumbs of possession. Billinghurst added another penalty on 35 minutes and by now frustration was creeping into Barking’s game. They had a player sin binned on 67 minutes and East London took advantage. Outside centre O’Donoghue ran a fine diagonal line, bumping off two attempted tackles, to score right of the posts. Billinghurst converted.
Replacement forward Ben Stern was harshly adjudged by the referee to have offended and was yellow carded and was soon followed by a second Barking player in the sin bin. Billinghurst added a penalty at the death to complete six from six kicks on the day.
Head coach Eddie Gooby: “It was a tough local derby but good to get back to well-deserved winning ways after three recent defeats. All the team put in a great shift but our front five were awesome both in attack and defence.”
The result moved East London up to fourth in London 3 Essex before an away fixture at Maldon on Saturday (12 January). The win over Barking was the second in the league with a victory also in the Essex Intermediate Cup this season.

East London 3s lost 5-36 at home on Saturday to Ongar in Shepherd Neame Essex Merit Table 5. Simon Leke scored the home try in the second half which Wally Scott converted.