OA’s race clear to win a classic

By MICHAEL WHITFIELD

Barnes……………33

O Albanians…..40

Old Albanians emerged victorious from an 11-try thriller which neither side deserved to lose.

This was one of the best games of rugby played at Barn Elms in recent years, and was a credit to both teams and the league.

Tom Stileman opened the scoring after eight minutes and fly-half Alex Noot started his excellent afternoon by converting the try.

Barnes bounced back quickly, Alex March scoring the first of his three tries from a driving maul on 14 minutes and Simon Keller adding the extras.

March scored his second try 10 minutes later form a lineout drive, and Keller again converted for 14-7.

After 32 minutes Stileman added his second try but Barnes scored again right on half-time, prop George Dean popping up on the wing after a multi-phase build up and Keller giving Barnes a 21- 12 lead at the break.

Elliott McPhun crossed for the visitors right at the start of the half, Noot converting to reduce the lead, although March completed his hat-trick on 50 minutes to extend the lead to 28-19.

Barnes needed to close the game out but OA’s raised their tempo, found gaps around the fringes and up the middle to score three tries through Wilson Ijeh, Nathan Michelow and John Kenward in a 20-minute period of dominance.

That gave the visitors a 28-40 lead, unassailable despite Jordan Souter’s late scythe through the defence for Barnes.