Old Emanuel 15 Purley John Fisher 23

Purley John Fisher leapt above Old Emanuel to fifth place on the London SW Division Four table after an impressive away victory on Saturday.

Sunny weather and a firm pitch suited the visitors and they made a bright start, making life difficult for the home side in the lineout and scrum.

Purley went ahead after just five minutes when, having turned the ball over on their own 10-yard line, Jim Brannigan quickly found Simon Thelwell. He had a lucky ricochet off an opponent but he found Robbie Watt who went in under the posts. Anthony Henrys converted.

Then captain Nick Wilson, taking the ball from a scrum 25 metres out, placed a kick over the opposing backs, one of whom took it over his own line.

The resultant five-yard scrum put Wilson over for a try and Henrys converted for a 12-0 lead.

But Purley then started to come off the rails, giving Emanuel too many penalties.

The hosts took full advantage, running in two tries to level the scores.

A penalty then took Emanuel to a 15-12 lead at half-time, with Purley doing their best to throw the game away.

However, Purley regained their composure and two well taken penalties by Henrys restored their lead at 18-15. The match was closely contested for the next 20 minutes, during which time PJF's Nigel Bird was sin-binned for 10 minutes.

But they held out and sealed victory with two minutes to go.

A turnover put Jim McDonald-Clink through at pace and his accurate pass to Watt saw him surge through to bag his second try.

A difficult conversion attempt drifted wide but Purley were delighted with their win against a strong Emanuel side.

PJF face Caterhamians next Saturday in a friendly.

December 12, 2001 13:30