Chingford see promotion dream go up in smoke

5:49pm Thursday 17th April 2008

Letchworth Garden City 15
Chingford 10
(London Two North)

CHINGFORD's dream of promotion to London One evaporated on Saturday.

And with close rivals Staines destroying Tabard to guarantee a play-off game away to Jersey, the Waltham Wayers therefore remain third in London Two North.

The visitors struggled at times with the bounce of the ball, and it was one such mistake that led to Letchworth's opening score on 15 minutes when Jaggi Johal touched down.

Letchworth's second try came after a strong run and chip by Rick Streets which Ryan de la Harpe converted.

Letchworth then had Johal carded and sent to the sinbin, but Chingford could not turn the numerical advantage to their benefit, and the home side extended their lead with a well-taken drop goal from de la Harpe that made it 15-0 at the break.

With the wind now behind them, Chingford came out fired up for the second period, although from three penalties Tobias de Klerk tried to kick from too far out.

After three attempts the ball found its way between the posts for the visitors' first points of the day on the hour mark.

Chingford did finally score a try when Jan Bonney took the ball from the base of a ruck, went blind and slipped the ball to Knight, who scampered over the line. De Klerk converted.

Frustrated Chingford manager Phil Howell said: "I was very disappointed with the performance as we looked disjointed and did not play as a team."

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