Wimbledon 30 - 12 Chipstead

A great win against a Chipstead side who were looking for their first league win and whose results so far led us to expect a tight game. The spell of play where they scored twice in the second half showed us that they are a side to be taken seriously, and could have caused much more damage if our forwards had allowed them more of the ball. Overall a very good team performance, reminiscent of our first league game.

Wimbledon began the first half strongly, the first notable move involving Nick Shuttleworth - having a great game again - releasing James Waghorn on the right, who was pushed out in the Chipstead 22. The ball was swirling in the wind and catching was difficult, but Archie Watkins was as solid as usual and caught everything that came to him. The first scrum showed that Joey's coaching is having a major effect, with Wimbledon comfortably dominating. Over the course of the game we won every one of our own scrums and most of theirs, this was instrumental in the huge amount of possession we enjoyed. Continued pressure saw Louis Hogan pushed out on the left, and then we had a scrum 10 yards from their line. Quick thinking by Max Tomlinson and he sidestepped two Chipstead defenders to go over for the first score. A good effort by Archie but the wind kept the conversion out.

Chipstead next showed us they were dangerous, their excellent fullback making a very strong run through us until Charlie McKibben brought him down. Charlie then made a strong run himself, being stopped by the same fullback. A lineout on our left in their 22 resulted in a series of strong runs and rucks from Wimbledon, culminating in bit of good thinking and strong running by James McGrath to score. Max was having a great game, and soon afterwards he put in another excellent sidestep and released Charlie to score under the posts, converted by Archie. Late highlights in the half were a superb kick by Max to gain half of the pitch and great tackle by Angus on their fullback. The last significant move was however a lineout on their 22 which we won and put on a strong drive, the ball eventually going from Diogo Carvalho to Dom Suckling. Dom rolled back the years to score the sort of trademark burrowing try he used to get every game. Half time 22 - 0 to Wimbledon.

The second half started well, with a penalty in their half, a fantastic attempted interception from Nic Shuttleworth, and a great run by James Waghorn on the right when he was again pushed out. More solid work by the forwards moved the ball out to Charlie who scored his second of the game with a very strong run and dive. The 27-0 scoreline had Wimbledon confidence high and some great moves followed - Nic Shuttleworth and Sam Codling combining well on the left, and Nic unlucky to be stopped a yard short of the line. The forwards put together an equally good display of support running and offloading between Dom, Diogo and Aidan O'Brien. Chipstead however were not out of the game, a warning sign coming when a great run down the right was only halted by a crowd-pleasing textbook tackle by Archie.

Complacency had however set in by this point, and Chipstead shocked us with two scores in rapid succession. The first was from a wild Wimbledon pass being intercepted for a try under our posts. The second came when we knocked the ball back from our lineout and the rocket-powered Chipstead 9 ran through to steal the ball and score. Score now 27-12 and we were rocking a bit. However the team were able to steady things again, pushing Chipstead back with more relentless forward pressure and excellent scrummaging. A great move between Sam, Aidan and Diogo on the left was held up short of their line, but the pressure gave us a series of penalties in their half and for the last we opted to take the kick. The decision was fully justified when Archie slotted the conversion and take us back to an 18 point margin. The game was nearly over, but Sam still had to make another great tackle to half their winger. There were a few school teammates on the pitch and Monday morning bragging rights to the Wimbledon lads this time.

Martin