PEGASUS 25

RAYLEIGH 3

Jim Saint-Moritz grabbed two tries as Pegasus halted a run of six straight defeats in spectacular style in a south Essex derby.

Wyverns opened the scoring with a drop goal, but Pegs then took a grip on the Eastern Counties Two South clash when a fine series of passes ended up in the arms of wing Saint-Moritz, who ran in an unconverted try.

Further tries from Dan Smith and Greg Gordon saw Pegs tighten their grip still further, before Saint-Moritz rounded off the half with his second try of the game.

Rayleigh put in some spirited defence in the second half, but Pegasus wrapped up the game when Bunny Margnet hared in for the clinching five points.

Dennis flies in to boost Islanders

HOLT 14

CANVEY ISLAND 34

Young wing Dave Dennis flew in for two tries as Canvey secured a win double at the home of their London Four North-east rivals.

Canvey began the game without several key players, including Steve Thomas, Jamie Saunders and Alan Berry, whose wife was expecting and has now had a baby girl.

Holt came out determined to take advantage of the absences, but they were swept aside by a Canvey team who raced into a 16-7 half-time lead.

The Islanders added 18 more points after half-time as Holt seemed to lose heart in the second period.

Apart from Dennis, one of several promising youngsters at the club, further tries came from James Breading, Karl Wakefield and Giles Grout, a club stalwart who came in at prop and had a storming game.

Thurrock suffered defeat in their London One clash with mid-table Sutton and Epsom, going down 41-15.

Westcliff get their revenge

WESTCLIFF 19

SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS 8

Westcliff coach Don Faulkner was delighted as his side moved up the Eastern Counties Two South table with a revenge win over Ferrers.

Woodham had won 11-3 in November, but Westcliff edged the victory this time thanks to their possession-hungry pack and solid defence.

"It's a very satisfying win," said Faulkner. "We knew we did not play well against them earlier in the season and the boys wanted to show them what we could do."

Westcliff's pack took more than their fair share of possession and hooker Peter Hall pinched two strikes against the head.

His display was matched by that of scrum-half Ian Henderson, who was one of the three try scorers for Westcliff.

Prop Rick Compton and back row man Dashiell Allum were the others, while Nick Green had two conversions.

A bonus for Westcliff was the return of Martin Wiley from injury and the debut of Channel Islander Rob Cooper, who marked his first game by putting in a memorable crunching tackle.

Billericay's Eastern Counties One top-of-the-table clash with Eton Manor was washed out.

Basildon cling on for win

SHELFORD 17

BASILDON 28

Basildon needed to fight off a keen second-half Shelford onslaught to stay hot on the heels of the London Three North-east leaders.

New towners dominated the first half, moving the ball with pace and variation against a leaden-footed Shelford defence to take a 23-0 half-time lead.

But after effective prop Richard Dennis went off at the start of the second

period, new towners were on the back foot and only dogged defence and a late clinching try from hooker Kevin Bray eased them home.

A penalty from influential outside-half Matt Tilson set them on their way in the first half, and they soon extended their lead with a try from flying winger Lloyd Williams, who scored after Luke Kirkup picked up at the base of the scrum.

Basildon stepped up the pace with the forwards supplying good second-phase ball to the backs and Craig Dockerill steamed through to set up scoring winger Pete Smith.

Prop Dennis, who had a huge game in the loose, then ripped the ball away from a ruck to set up another score for Paul Bushell, before Craig Dockerill capped an oustanding individual first-half show by sprinting 25 yards for the score.

At 23-0, Basildon were expecting little trouble in the second period, but Shelford hit back with a forward- dominated approach that was effective if unexciting.

New towners defended with tenacity and skill, but the line was breached three times before they at last emerged from their own half to clinch the game when Bray benefited from Phil Foster's success in the line-out.

Stanford open big gap at the top

STANFORD 14

UPPER CLAPTON 10

Leaders Stanford struck a blow in the race for Eastern Counties Two by completing a double over their nearest rivals at Stanford Rec.

Upper Clapton were beaten in a tough encounter after Stanford outside centre Scott Cooper made a desperate saving cover tackle in the dying seconds.

And with Stanford having opened up a four-point lead at the top, player-coach Jamie Daisley was optimistic of pushing on for a second straight promotion.

"It was a vital win because it means we can now lose twice and still go up as champions," he said.

It was Cooper who played a vital role in Stanford's first try as they trailed their rivals midway through the first half.

A converted try and penalty for Upper Clapton had overtaken Dave Kelway's opening three points for Stanford.

But fly-half Daisley passed the ball out to Cooper, who set up Rob Maher for the score that brought them to within two points at 10-8.

A further Kelway penalty put Stanford 11-10 ahead at the break and they controlled the game in the second half to clinch the win with another three-pointer.

Their spirit was typified by skipper Richard Elder, who played despite a broken finger.

Derby double for Southend

ROCHFORD 6

SOUTHEND 10

Southend finished the year 2000 on top of London Three North-east after winning a hard-fought derby with their close rivals.

The two teams began the game in first and second spot in the division, but Southend leapfrogged their neighbours into top spot by completing a league double.

A ten-point first-half burst did the trick, although former Southend player Mark Sexton ensured they had to fight all the way with two penalties either side of half-time for the home side.

Yet despite their lofty position at the top, team manager Gerry Lamb stressed that the rapidly-improving seasiders are not getting carried away.

"It's nice to be top, but there's a long way to go yet and a lot of hard work needs to be done by the players," he said. "It's very tight and Chingford have only lost once and have a game in hand on us, so they're a big danger."

Lamb pointed to Southend's strong pack and solid defence as the key to victory in a contest in which Rochford always looked dangerous.

Rochford competed in scrums and lineout very effectively, but could not win enough quality ball when it mattered against Southend's heavyweight pack and the clever kicking of Kevin Harman at stand off.

Southend opened the scoring after 20 minutes of the first half when a good spell of fast passing along the backs found skipper James Shearing in support on the wing.

The back row man streaked down the sideline to score, with Harman adding a conversion to make it 7-0.

Harman then added a penalty before Sexton put Rochford's first points on the board with a penalty shortly before the break.

The second-half was very tight with both defences in first-class form. Sexton added a further penalty, but it wasn't enough to stop Southend stealing top spot.

(right) Tough guy - a Stanford player (black check) fights off the pack from Upper Clapton

Picture: DAVE HENDERSON

(left) Surging on - a Rochford player beats the despairing tackle from a Southend defender in Saturday's London Three clash at Magnolia Road

Picture: MAXINE CLARKE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.