Ironsides lacklustre play costs them dear once again (From Wandsworth Guardian)

Back-to-back defeats leave Battersea Ironsides reeling

3:06pm Thursday 1st November 2012 in Sport

By Chris Dixon

Battersea Ironsides fell to their second consecutive defeat in Surrey Division Two thanks to a 20-10 reverse at home to Law Society. 

From the kick off, Law had their tails up, running the ball through the non-existent Ironsides defence with their jinky centre evading five missed tackles before weakly being scragged to the ground by Tyson Peters. 

An infringement at the ruck gave the Law kicker a simple attempt at goal, which he duly converted and Ironsides found themselves 3-0 down with barely a minute of the clock gone.

Outstanding player of the day was the Law open-side flanker who, despite his slight frame, was strong in the tackle and at almost every ruck. 

There was little for the Ironsides support to get behind other than a couple of patches of forwards drives and some carries. 

Whenever an opportunity seemed to present itself for the Ironsides it fell afoul of poor handling and went begging. 

Law’s tackling was probably the best seen by Ironsides this season and it kept the Law try-line uncrossed throughout the first half including an excellent tackle in goal.

A second penalty for Law and the teams turned around at 0-6.

The second half started in much of the same vein as the first with Law using their strong carriers to edge up-field. 

An infringement within the Ironsides' 5m line had the referee striding under the posts for a penalty try. 

A charge by Tyson Peters saw the ball tipped onto the upright, whereby it fell onto the crossbar and trickled over. 

This was followed up a few minutes later by a sublime line cut by the Law 13 straight through the Ironsides and under the posts he went. 

Needless to say the Law kicker hit a steeper angle this time around and the ball sailed through, making it 20-0 to Law and Ironsides had a mountain to climb.

Eventually Ironsides awoke from their slumber and the work rate increased. 

Two tries in quick succession from wing Ben Siaw and super-sub Shannon Millard brought the score-line back to 10-20 and Ironsides seemed to sense that they might be able to get something out of the game. 

The Law tackle count got higher and higher as Ironsides kept throwing everything at them, but the defence held strong and Law held on for a deserved victory.