Narrow loss leaves students fighting for second
UEL’s rugby squad saw their title hopes crushed after a narrow 17-16 loss to Greenwich.
They fell behind to a long-range penalty, but then spent a good deal of time camped in the home 22.
But Greenwich countered and their number eight went through a gap to score under the posts, with a simple conversion making it 10-0.
After dominating the scrum and set-pieces in the first 30 minutes, UEL began to attack the Greenwich five-metre line and hit back with a Bradley Cock try after multiple phases.
Rahul Gurung could not add the conversion and UEL were caught cold at the start of the second half as Greenwich claimed their second converted try to move 12 points clear.
But with their title dreams in the balance UEL dug deep and Gurung slotted two penalties to make it 17-11.
A late attack from a lineout led to a maul that was driven over in the corner for a try to cut the gap to a single point, but UEL could not add the matchwinning conversion and must now fight for the runners-up spot if they are to get promotion.
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