A very strong overall performance against a team who have been neck-and-neck with us for several years, and who beat us in last seasons fixture. Battersea were unfortunately unable to bring two sides as originally planned, so their one team played a 'game of two halves' against a mixed A/B Wimbledon team. In the first half, almost complete domination by the Wimbledon pack provided plenty of ball for the strong back line. Fast movement through the hands gave the ball quickly to Sam Codling who was able to run in two tries from the wing and was unlucky when an uncharacteristic drop caused him to miss out on his hat-trick. Some slick interchanges in the centres led to a try each for Robert Davies and Nick Shuttleworth. The outrageous one-handed pass behind his back by Nick can not go without a mention! The dominant pack got their representative on the scoreboard when Diogo Carvalho went over towards the end of the half.

In the second half, Battersea did well to come back at us after the back line were swapped out and some changes made in the pack. However Wimbledon were able to stabilise the situation after 3 quick tries from Battersea; by the end of the game the pack had re-asserted control, and Nick was able to cap off a fine overall performance with his second try of the day. Particular congratulations should go to Aidan O'Brien who managed a 100% record with the 6 conversions he made on the day.