Great weather for running rugby, and an open game it turned out to be. Haslemere started the stronger, pushing back our scrum and using their possession to force us back to our own 22, their No8 going over for the first score under the posts. However we came back well; Aidan O'Brien put in a captains performance in all areas of forward play, and the half-back combination of Alfie and Cameron was solid all game. After some strong runs from Diogo Carvalho and Charlie McKibben, the first score came when Nic Shuttleworth - our most dangerous player all day and picked out for particular praise by the opposition coaches - was tackled close to the opposition line but managed to offload to Archie Watkins to score. Archie put over the first of some outstanding conversions from his own try. From here, and despite the excellent Haslemere rush defence, Wimbledon continued to pile on the pressure and Rob Davies made ground before passing to James Waghorn on the right wing. James' try was superbly converted from the touchline by Archie, to much applause from the Haslemere supporters. However the ball came straight back into our half, the excellent Haslemere 12 skipping through 3 tackles to take the half-time score to 14 - 14.

The second half began with our most dominant period of play, with Charlie McKibben first having a try disallowed and then driving over to score. Shortly afterwards Cameron released Angus to storm through, Archie of course converting both tries to take us into a commanding 28 - 14 lead. This was particularly the case because by this point Haslemere were losing players fast and had not brought any subs; they went down to 14, then 13 and ended the game with 12, bravely (and correctly!) choosing to play on. Some poor tackling saw a soft try given away between our posts, but evened up soon afterwards when Charlie made a strong run and release James on the wing for his second try of the day. A 33-21 lead remained against 12 men - this should have been closed out easily. The fact that it was not speaks highly of the Haslemere commitment and team spirit, and also of some mental fragility in our squad that we will be working on next year. Perhaps the result was being taken for granted - but two rapid Haslemere tries brought the scores level and put it very much on the line. Wimbledon blushes were saved when Rob Davies carried over to get his try, Archie converting to win the game at 40 -33.

Scares aside, this was a valuable victory, played in a great spirit and just as nail-biting as last years fixture. We end the season in 6th position but well clear of relegation, having had several narrow losses and playing large chunks of the season with several players out injured.