10 Dec 2025
Old Albanians 31 – Westcombe Park 40 – National League 2 (East)
Report by Times rugby correspondent Gary Wiles, photos by Neil Baldwin
Old Albanians’ title challenge stumbled last Saturday as they were surprisingly beaten on home turf for the first time this season by 6th placed Westcombe Park on a cold, wet afternoon at Woollams.
The game was swaying in both directions in the early stages with both sides vying for territory. With Park being penalised for two high tackles in five minutes, OAs looked to assert themselves after Josh Skelcey’s line break, however, they couldn’t make the momentum count and Park cleared their lines following an infringement at the scrum.
After Greg Lound was penalised for straying offside, Westcombe Park found themselves inside OAs’ half, and where the home team had failed to capitalise, Park succeeded as Toby Wallace broke the deadlock with a well taken try after 20 minutes. Fly half Max Brown added the conversion to put the visitors 0-7 in the lead.
OAs looked to respond, winning a penalty almost straight away, taking them into Park’s 22. Then on the 29th minute, another high tackle six meters out gave OAs the chance of a tap penalty. They charged for the line and this time Ben Alexander was on hand to finish the move and put the home side back in the game. Elliot McPhun stepped up from the tee to bring the scores level.
Just after he half an hour mark, OAs turned over a scrum on their 22 metre line and McPhun cleared down field.
In the ensuing play, a grubber kick through the Westcombe defensive line was touch out of play by a Park player.
From the ensuing lineout OAs went through the phases and Matt Ramzanpour crashed over the line from close range to give hem the lead. McPhun again added the extras to make the score 14-7 in OAs’ favour at half time.
Right from the restart in the 2nd half, Westcombe Park took the fight to OAs showing a lot of commitment and aggression taking them to within touching distance of the home side’s tryline. Referee Beth Piddlesden had to step in to stop a minor scuffle as tempers started to boil over. The resulting tap penalty for Park ended up in the hands of flanker Namir Kahill who bundled over for the try, duly converted by Brown once again bringing the score level.
From the restart, Kahill turned from saint to sinner. OAs set off up field as they crossed the half way line. Kahill put in an illegal tackle, making head to head contact with the OA ball carrier. With no mitigation and a high degree of danger, Beth Piddlesden was left with no other option but to produce a red card.
OAs looked to take advantage and pressed the opposition line, with Charlie Fleckney finding a way through to dot the ball down for another OAs try. McPhun missed the conversion, however the home side’s advantage remained at 5 points . In the 53rd minute, OAs pressed home the advantage again scoring the bonus point try through Aaron Florestein, after charging down an attempted clearance. Again McPhun missed the conversion making the score 24-14 in the home side’s favour.
Having put some daylight on the scoreboard OAs then suffered a crazy 10 minute spell where Westcombe Park scored four tries!
A careless pass inside OA’s own 22 gifted possession to Park and then from a five metre lineout Park’s Taine Wagstaff went over for the first of them, with Max Brown making no mistake for the conversion, to bring it back to 21-24. A fantastic individual try by Westcombe’s Kyan Braithwaite – converted by Brown – was quickly followed by a four-minute brace of tries from Nick Cook to put Park firmly in the driving seat 24-40 despite Brown missing one of the conversion attempts.
Rocked back on their heels, Old Albanians went on the attack to try and find a way back into the game. Another high tackle from Park led to further scuffles which needed cool heads and some intervention from the officials.
With time ticking, OAs managed to ship the ball out to Seyi Ajeigbe who sprinted over in the corner. The referee didn’t give the try and went to speak to her touch judge who had spotted an infringement in the build-up. It was unclear exactly what had transpired, but OAs were awarded a penalty try, saving Eliot McPhun having to attempt the conversion close to the touch line. It was too little too late for the league leaders however, as full time was blown, going down 31-40.
Next up for Old Albanians is an away trip to Havant where they hope to end their two game losing streak against second-placed Oundle, who took the opportunity to go to level on points with the league leaders after a win against Sevenoaks. OAs’ next home game is on December 20 when they welcome London Welsh to Woollams.
