Finchleys Road to Twickenham is underway

Finchley travelled to Old Brentwoods with a view to getting their cup run on the move. The afternoon did not get off to a good start with preparations being poor for the visitors.

Finchley started the game well applying pressure to the home side through some well worked moves and solid completion of set pieces. This early pressure from the men in red and white led to the first try of the game with Drew Williams receiving a pass from Niall Clifford and the No. 10 slicing through the OB's defence. Conversion missed.

OB's then replied with a penalty in front of the posts. Following this an early injury to Victor Coker saw the introduction of David Tuft onto the wing and the ex-footballer soon showed the crowd why he is averaging 15 points per game. With the first half proving to be a dog fight and no real cutting edge to the Finchley side Tuft's boot still ensured that Finchley went into half time leading 14-3.

Finchley then began the second half in better fashion with Bryden Fraser crossing the line in the corner after some well worked phase play by both backs and forwards. Tuft converted.

For the next 20 minutes of the 2nd half Finchley absorbed pressure from the OB's pack, this led to 3 sin bins for the Finchley men. OB's then capitalised on this and scored a try of their own, which was duly converted.

With 5 minutes remaining and Finchley looking to take the sting out of their opposition Tuft once again slotted a penalty.

OB's then had 5 solid minutes of pressure on the Finchley line, but some excellent tackling from all 15 Finchley players meant that OB's were not able to grab a consolation try.

On the day Tufts boot proved to be the difference between the 2 teams but Man of the Match goes to Drew Williams for a admirable performance in the 10 shirt.

Final Score 10-24

Although a good win for Finchley that sees their cup run begin, there were times during the 80 minutes where the consistency and precision of the last few weeks was found lacking. With the hard test of Welwyn at home in the league next week Finchley will be looking to return to their flowing brand of rugby that has seen them rise to 2nd in London North West 3.