By Owen jones Streatham-Croydon 29 – 13 Worth Old Boys Streatham’s wingers may have scored all four tries in a comfortable win at Frant Road on Saturday but they hade their forwards to thanks for laying the perfect platform against a much vaunted Old Boys pack.

Coach Bob Dean had stressed beforehand the importance of making a good start to the league season and he must have been delighted by the way his new-look side gelled so quickly. On another hot, sunny, dry day in Thornton Heath the crowd were intrigued to see how Patryck Kowalski and Garvin C.J. Toussaint would acquit themselves in their new positions of open-side flanker and fly-half respectively.

Streatham made an explosive start and were ahead within five minutes as Kowalski made good ground with a surging run that took him into the opponent’s 22. He found Mannie Pryce, Streatham’s strong running winger, who burst through several weak tackles to score the first try. Charlie Crewe converted to give Streatham the perfect start, 7-0.

Worth Old Boys hit back with some attacking play of their own and were rewarded with a penalty as the Streatham backs strayed off-side at a ruck. The deficit was pulled back to 7-3, but Streatham were then hit with an injury to their hooker Oliver Goldsmith, who was replaced by Ian Park, with Gareth Ford-Hunt moving to hooker. It was an earlier than anticipated return to action for Park, who had been out for nine months with Achilles trouble.

Streatham were next to score, a penalty by Charlie Crewe, who had been making some tricky runs and aggressive tackles, making it 10-3.

Streatham then scored a wonderful try, deft handling amongst the back-rowers Simon Hampton and Tim Riley making ground up the middle, before Toussaint spotted space behind the Worth winger to place a perfectly weighted kick to give the returning Aaron Brown a chase to ground the ball in the corner. A difficult conversion was missed by Crewe.

There were some anxious moments as the inspirational Kowalski went off temporarily with an injured hand but it was Streatham who went in at half-time with a 15-3 lead.

Chris ‘Gower’ McCarthy replaced Steve Venter at half-time to give the pack some fresh legs. Streatham’s pack were causing all sorts of problems, winning all their line-out ball and making it very difficult for the Old Boys with their scrimmaging. Twice the pack turned over Old Boys ball at the scrum and there appears to be no waning of the power of prop Colin Lynch.

Despite this it was Brown who pounced for an intercept try after Old Boys had tried to move the ball along the back line, the winger easily outpacing the chasing backs. Worth Old Boys scored the first of their consolation tries, before Pryce rounded off the Streatham scoring, providing a devastating finish to a brilliantly worked backs move, Crewe converting both to give Streatham a 29-8 lead.

There was still time for Old Boys to score another try, this time following a cross field kick. Park was then given a standing ovation as he made way for Owen Jones, rounding off a great start to the league campaign final score 29-13.

Afterwards Streatham captain Brian Dargan urged his side to continue to exhibit the style of rugby on display, “I thought our support play was what really made the difference today. It’s what makes a team. We’ve all got to make sure that the ball carrier has options every time”.

*Streatham-Croydon have been given a home draw against HSBC in the first round of the RFU Junior Vase. It will be played this Saturday, the 3rd October, at Streatham’s Frant Road ground. Entry is free, with kick –off scheduled for 3pm.