HAILEYBURIANS ARREST POLICE SURGE TO PROMOTION

It was perfect conditions for rugby and a crucial encounter between the teams placed second and third in the three horse race for promotion to Surrey 2 writes Simon Hall. Met Police beat Old Haileyburians in the Autumn fixture but the Old Boys have since shown their mettle by beating leaders Reeds.

The Met started off in their usual manner, slowly. The opening three minutes felt like an eternity as the visitors' big ball carriers battered away at the seemingly impregnable Met defence. The opening salvo came to an end only when a bone-crunching tackle forced a knock-on. Some games have fewer phases and tackles in a full 80 minutes!

With The Met unable to secure usable ball, inevitably, Old Haileyburians opened the scoring with a converted try. The visitors continued to press from the restart but a turnover in the Met half enabled Police winger and top try scorer Chris Holloway to sprint down the touchline leaving his opposite number in the Imber Court dust, and touching down under the posts. JJ Connolly slotted the simple conversion, keeping the game poised at one goal each.

A penalty apiece concluded the scoring for what had been a brutal yet exhilarating 40 minutes of rugby, with the scores even.

The Met looked a lot sharper at the start of the second half but Old Haileyburians continued to test The Met's defence. But it took a careless penalty given away by the Met pack to enable Haileyburians' No10 to put them within striking distance. From 5 metres out, the line-out drive was initially halted as was the second drive but the No.8 spotted a gap and from two metres out scrambled over the line. The conversion was added to put the visitors ahead 10-17.

The Met were being frustrated with their inability to assert themselves and the penalty count against the Police started to mount. Eventually, one such penalty resulted in a further three points for Haileyburians and the Met were now left without a losing bonus point to cling to.

The final few minutes saw The Met entrenched inside Old Haileyburians' 22 and predominantly on their 5 metre line but the visitors had victory in their grasp and a place in the promotion spots to spur them on to a very important victory. The Met paid a heavy price for their slow start although the Haileyburians' defence was always difficult to break through. It was certainly a fantastic game for the spectators and a wonderful advert for Surrey 3.