Mr Thornton: Recent good form meant BDA went into Tuesday’s encounter with Holland Park high in confidence and excited at the prospect of another potential victory over their local rivals.

BDA started strongly moving the ball wide to space and scored three early tries to gain a comfortable lead. Holland Park fought back and scored a deserved try through their captain (a Middlesex county trialist). Holland Park were also dominating the scrums and again it was their captain who was causing BDA all sorts of problems. Cue the introduction of year 8 substitute Kaelan Paul to the front row with the challenge of stopping Holland Park’s man mountain. This was a challenge that he accepted and rose to perfectly. With the scrum improving and the ball secured BDA scored 3 more tries and went in to half time with a very healthy 30 v 5 lead.

The second half was a mixed bag for BDA. Better rucking led to more ball and more chances to score, but a combination of ignoring support, running sideways in attack and missed tackles in defence let Holland Park back into the game. Holland Park’s try count began to climb but BDA continued to score enough themselves to keep the lead and eventually ran out 55 v 35 winners. Another victory for a rapidly improving Year 9 side and a special mention to Adam Elbounabi for scoring 6 of the BDA tries on the night.

Next Week BDA welcome Hurlingham and Chelsea for a return league fixture following the 59 v 58 thriller earlier in the season.

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