By Raonull MacKinnon

Battersea Ironsides crashed out of the London & SE Junior Vase after a nail-biting 18-10 defeat at home to Old Merchant Taylors.

Tyson Peters bagged Ironsides' only try of the afternoon, with Liam Coffey kicking five points.

The first half was an open affair in terms of territory, if not reflected in the scoreline.

The Ironsides were first to concede after 10 minutes when a careless penalty given away on the ruck resulted in an OMT’s penalty.

The game was fraught up front, with every ruck contested fiercely, the OMT number seven particularly impressive at the break down.

Ironsides gained a penalty, slotting over to bring the scores level to 3–3, and also missed another opportunity to edge in front before half time.

The second half was a more tense affair, OMT were, on balance, the more structured and dangerous of the two teams.

As both teams tired, gaps inevitably opened up and it was OMT first to break the try duck, scoring a well-worked five-pointer after a period of pressure through their forwards, scoring under the posts and duly bagging the conversion.

They then quickly secured a further three points for a 13–3 lead.

The Ironsides gathered themselves and pushed on, and Peters, the Ironsides whippet wearing 14, took the ball in space on the Ironsides 10m line, and after a few attritional phases of play he evaded several OMT’s en route to score under the posts. A successful conversion had the scores are 13–10 with 15 minutes left.

OMTs camped themselves in the Ironsides 22 for the majority of the remaining time, and the determined defence was eventually broken down, cruelly with the last move of the game, for a try and a final score of 18–10.