Charlton Park 55 v 0 Ashford

Rugby Union London League Four SE

Report by Roe Belcher

CHARLTON Park finished their league season with a nine-try destruction of struggling Ashford and taking third place in the league.

With Charlton intent on playing in a positive manner and running the ball at every opportunity Ashford were forced back onto the defensive for the majority of the match.

Having missed a penalty in the opening minutes, Charlton took the lead when, following a quickly tapped ball, Steve Philpot crashed over.

The first try proved to be a pre-cursor for the half as Charlton put together a period of 15 minutes of pressure which produced to three tries.

Two were scored by fullback Michael Casizzi, finishing off good handling moves, and the third from Jake Smith with a fly-half break.

Holding the upper hand in all areas of the field, the majority of play was concentrated in Ashford's half and the vistors were having to play on the back foot.

The pressure led to the last try of the half scored when, following prop Terry Reid's fine pass, lock Ross McManus romped over the goal line to touch the ball down.

With Casizzi adding three successful conversions the end of the first half saw Charlton holding a 31-0 lead.

The second half saw Charlton bagged four tries without a response.

Back row forward Lewis Williams who opened the scoring in the second half when following his fielding of an attempted clearance from Ashford he brush aside several tackles to run in the try.

Forward Ally Young created the next try when, following his break from the base of a scrum, his finely weighted pass found prop forward Richard Williams who muscled his way over the try line.

The last two tries of the match were once again the result of good handling which saw the ball being passed well.

Allied to a good running line, Smith and Barry O'Keeffe were put into space to score the tries.

With Casizzi adding a further two conversions Charlton rounded off a well-merited win.