Cottons Park outfit won 7-5 at home on Saturday

Pat Hallahan was thrilled to see Campion grind out a 7-5 win at home to East London in London Three Essex.

In brutal conditions at Cottons Park, a converted Greg Dordoy try proved enough for the hosts to triumph.

It was a fine end to the calendar year for Campion and head coach Hallahan was happy to triumph in awful conditions.

“The weather played a huge part and there were mistakes from both sides,” said Hallahan.

“Our defence was superb, especially in the first 20 minutes when East London put us under lots of pressure.

“If you look at the season on the whole, I don’t think the points against column in the table reflects how good our defence has been and we showed how good it was on Saturday.

“We knew the game would be decided by tight margins, so I’m pleased our try came from sticking to a plan which sucked East London in and created space out wide.

“Had the game finished 7-7, I think that would have been a fair result, but East London were unfortunate that their try was scored almost in the corner and their kicker missed the conversion.

“It was a massive win for us and one that shows we can mix it up and win in tougher conditions, despite being a team who like to play running rugby.”

The wins leaves Campion third in the table over the Christmas break, and Hallahan is pleased with how the opening months of the term have gone.

“It’s nice to looking up the table and not down it, but we have a tough game at the start of January against Epping Upper Clapton,” he added.

“It was a very close game against them earlier in the season, but Epping are top for a reason and in good form.

“Where we are in the table, it’s quite tight, but we’re happy with the position we’re in.

“If we’re still there at the end of the season, then we’ll be very pleased and we can already be pleased with the progress we’ve made in the last few months.”