U15 L2 Wimbledon 43 - 5 Farnham

Firstly, let me say how great it was to see some of our long term (Louis, Harry) and short-term (Rob, James) injured players turn out to support the team on Sunday. This is exactly what we mean when we talk about encouraging team spirit, thanks for that. Also thank you for making sure we had a good contingent for the after-game meal (there will be proper tables and chairs from this weekend, we are promised!). Apologies to those players who did not get to play this week, we are at the mercy of the other teams I am afraid. With so many of them folding their B squads, I am focussing on a set of 'B-only' games for next season to make sure we get the fixtures.

We went into the game a place or two above Farnham in the league table (it has not been updated in a while) but with some confidence from the good win against them last year. The conditions suited us well - a clear day with a dry (but still quite soft) pitch and this was apparent from the kickoff, with some good early pressure. We had a chance to open the scoring with a penalty, and Archie Watkins duly slotted this to take us to 3-0 up. It was not long after this that Aidan O'Brien picked up and proceeded to run sideways across the pitch. The coaches' complaints were choked off before we could shout, as he ran around most of the opposing back line to score in the right hand corner. No sooner had Farnham kicked back to us than Max Tomlinson put in a great kick back over their heads, chased down by Aidan and shipped to Lucas, who was unlucky to knock the ball forward. However we were camped in their half, and soon drew another penalty which Archie scored from to take us to 11-0.

Wimbledon were getting into a rhythm with some great offloading and supporting runs, and those boys playing out of position doing very well - Cameron Wilkinson at scrum-half in particular. With the ball running loose, Damian Cherry-Fox picked up superbly and was able to release Charlie McKibben for one of his trademark barnstorming runs. This often ends with Charlie isolated and us losing the ball, but on this occasion Matt Rogers was right on his shoulder and Charlie was able to offload (after the 5th tackle finally brought him down) for Matt to drive over the line with 2 players hanging on to him. Converted again by Archie to take us to 18-0 up. By now even Farnhams early advantage in the scrums had been turned around, Wimbledon winning several against the head despite Farnham feeding somewhere behind the hookers legs every time. A good move to the left was pushed out, but when the ball came back quickly to the right, Alex Browning was able to feed the ball out of a maul to Lucas Strauss, who charged over near the right hand corner flag.

Chasing the fourth (bonus point) try, a good move down the left between Matt Shaw, Sam Codling and Diogo Carvalho was unlucky not to result in a score. With an intervening Farnham attack dealt with well by Matt Rogers, a superb bit of interpassing with Max Tomlinson released Charlie McKibben to score under the posts. Utterly dominant as the half time whistle went, and the score at 28-0.

The second half started with more good running moves, both Nic Shuttleworth and Sam Codling being pushed out on the left in quick succession. However the next move shipped the ball rapidly out to the right, and James Waghorn was able to put on the afterburners and score in the right hand corner. At this point however Farnham raised their heads and their game, putting in a good 5 minute spell which saw them awarded a series of penalties near our line. The pressure eventually told as they picked up from a scrum and drove over to take the score to 33-5.

Wimbleon had more points in them, and shipped the ball rapidly out to the left from the kickoff to see Diogo unlucky to be pushed out not far from the Farnham line. As play moved over to the right, a scrum saw stand-in scrum half Angus Bonner pick up and drive through to score in "James McGrath style". The kickoff saw an excellent catch and run from Archie, but with the time running down it was down to Charlie McKibben to crash through at least 6 tackles to score with the last move of the game. A comprehensive 43-5 victory.