Old Priorians secured their first win of the league season, holding off the threat of London Irish Wild Geese to run out 22-14 winners at St Benedict's Playing Field on Saturday afternoon.

Irish started the better but OPs did well to hold off the early threat, eventually working their way up into the visitor's 22. Luis Gomez-Rose - playing his first game for the club in just under a year - came up with the ball following a rolling maul from a lineout, Will Taylor converting for a 7-0 lead within the first ten minutes.

The Twisters then doubled their lead on seventeen minutes, scrum half Rory Gaffney turning possession over with a tremendous rip, working the ball wide before a move back into the midfield saw Will Taylor finish with aplomb, stepping his way past numerous defenders to cross the line, converting his own effort as Priorians found themselves in the ascendancy.

OPs continued to pile on the pressure but it was Wild Geese who were next to get their name on the scoresheet, winger Chris Stegmann reading a pass perfectly to intercept on the halfway line and run in under the posts to give Pete Sowerby an easy shot at goal to halve the deficit, as a little under a quarter of an hour of the first half was left.

The Surrey outfit were then able to level things up but were afforded a great deal of luck in doing so ; having given away a penalty on the OPs 22, the hosts kicked for touch only to see the ball take a wicked bounce that took the ball past the dead ball line, giving London Irish a scrum back. This gave them the foundation to build phases and from a lineout elected for a maul, spun out to back row Dom Aston who completed a neat training ground move. Sowerby converted once more to make it 14-14 towards the end of the first 40 minutes.

OPRFC asserted dominance in the second half, pinning Wild Geese back in their own territory and forcing penalty after penalty. A couple of chances to drive over were spurned, but Matt Ilube then made sure that the visit didn't go unrewarded, scoring in the corner in very tight space. Taylor was not able to add the extra two points but a promising opening to the half for the Twisters put them five points ahead.

Irish came back with a renewed vigour and looked destined to score themselves, yet a tremendous rearguard action from OPs - coupled with further indiscipline - saw various attacks repelled. The decisive moment in the game came fairly late on, Taylor taking the chance to kick for goal in the 76th minute to put Priorians two scores ahead as Wild Geese continued to infringe and relinquish the opportunity to maintain match momentum.

The Twisters closed the fixture out to get their first win of the Regional 2 Thames campaign, London Irish Wild Geese remaining winless at Perivale since January 2023. An impressive eighty minutes for the hosts, who responded to being pegged back well, not allowing Irish to score in the second half.

OPs are up to ninth following the match and travel to H.A.C next weekend.

Scorers

OPRFC

T : L Gomez-Rose, Taylor, Ilube

C : Taylor 2

P : Taylor

London Irish Wild Geese

T : Stegmann, Aston

C : Sowerby 2