Fullerians haven’t had the best of luck in their first three league games and this weekend they lost skipper Dan Evans with a thigh strain during the warm up.

This young Fullers side started well on the 3G pitch but couldn’t quite hang onto the ball for long enough to put Eton Manor under pressure. The home side scored first after Fullers tried to play too much rugby in their own 22 and capitalised on a knock on in midfield for them to score in the corner.

Fullers’ heads did drop slightly and fell off the tackles and allowed Eton to score again. Fullers were down to 14 men when prop Steven McKenzie-Cardy was sent to the sin bin for a professional foul. This seemed to rally Fullers as decisions seem to go against them.
Wing Andrew Alexander found himself in space down the left wing and he used his wonderful pace to score in the corner. The conversion went wide.

Eton Manor used their numerical advantage to score again for a 26-5 half time lead helped by some mediocre tackling by Fullers.

In the second half Fullers played some good rugby going forward and with the scrum dominating they made good ground. A 5 metre scrum saw no8 Matt Bunce score after he picked up from the back of the scrum. Harrison Wells added the conversion from wide out.

Fullers were down to 14 again as Andrew Alexander did a tip tackle so the home side moved the ball wide to score twice in quick succession.

Back to full strength again Fullers competed well and moved the ball well and Eton started to tire. Another 5 metre scrum Fullers were going for the push over but the ball came out the back but scrum half Wells linked well with winger Conor Head to score in the corner.

Eton scored again after an interception gifted to them by Fullers. However, this Fullers side showed resilience and kept going to look for the bonus point try. Another 5 metre scrum saw them going forwards and looking like they were going to score but the ball popped out the back and the chance went missing.

“We again played some good rugby when we had self-belief. We lacked composure at critical times and gifted Eton Manor 2-3 tries by knocking on, missing tackles and interceptions. It was a better performance than last week and we are improving.” commented Fullerians Head Coach Rich Hoskins.

Team. McPhail, D. Horne (Laing 50), McKenzie-Cardy (McGregor-Smith 50), Boyd, South, D. Toon, C. Head, Molloy (Bunce 55), Wells, Matchett, Alexander, Dollard, Mann, Williams, Maher

Man of the Match: James McPhail