Mersea's Twickenham Vase dream came to a disappointing end, losing this fifth-round tie to their south-east London opponents.

Mersea produced a valiant and gutsy display in front of a large home crowd, but the Islanders' failure to turn pressure into points and capitalise on good territorial advantage proved crucial.

Old Dunstonian proved the pedigree and potential as one of the tournament favourites, containing Mersea strengths and punishing the Islanders out wide.

OD set the match tone from the kick-off, playing a very fast, open style of rugby and immediately stretching the home defence.

MERSEA ISLAND 25

OLD DUNSTONIAN 45

Powergen Junior National Vase

Published Tuesday, December 21, 2004

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