A perfect day for running rugby at Garratt Green; the ground was firm, the sun was shining and "dog s**t park" is clearly still suffering from a reputation acquired years ago, the pitch was fine. With the conditions suiting us, Wimbledon started very well. A great early run by Dom Suckling set the precedent for a day when the forwards would keep popping up in the back line - sometimes to great effect but sometimes at the expense of losing a ruck for lack of numbers, we will be working on this. Another run down the right set Lucas Strauss free but he was pushed out just short of the line. Battersea were dangerous with some strong runners in the centre, and only an excellent tackle by Archie Watkins saved an early breakaway. Having had a warning, Wimbledon again built up the pressure and were camped in the Battersea half for several minutes. We were denied a try when Nick Shuttleworth completed a great move out to the left but was adjudged - harshly we thought - to have touched the flag before grounding the ball. The failure to convert all this pressure into points told when Battersea broke through our line and 3 missed tackles allowed their centre to score under the posts. 0 - 7 down, but straight from the restart we were back on top, Sam Codling taking a superb catch and running the ball back at Battersea. Some slick passing got the ball out to the wing, where prop Diogo Carvalho popped up (not for the first time) and was able to run in the try. The conversion from so far out was a tall order, but Archie made no mistake and brought us back to 7 - 7.

Battersea came back hard trying to re-establish the lead, pushing us back to our own line and then putting together a very effective move out to their right, which seemed to be certain to produce a try when Nick Shuttleworth - having another fantastic game offensively and defensively - put in the tackle of the match causing the Battersea player to spill the ball over our line. We were able to relieve the pressure with good kicks from Cameron Wilkinson and Archie, and we then put together another great sequence of passes to release Diogo down the left wing - sadly he just touched the line before scoring. In the last 10 minutes of the half, we again built up pressure in the Battersea half and this time Charlie McKibben went over to score. The difficult conversion was missed, so despite some good moves the score going into half time was 12-7 to Wimbledon.

Going into the second half our strong squad enabled us to change things around; James Waghorn coming on to the wing, Kit Lewis making a welcome return at flanker and newcomer Cyril Addo coming on to make a solid debut at prop. We started the half very strongly, but after the first few minutes the game was getting scrappy and both sides were making mistakes - some unusual handling errors in the case of Wimbledon. However a very good move between Angus Bonner, Matt Rogers and Cyril Addo resulted in a penalty when a Battersea high tackle halted it. No mistake from Archie and we were 15 - 7 up. Continued pressure continued to force penalties, and when Battersea were caught offside - not for the first time - Archie again converted to take us to an 18 -7 lead which should have seen out the match. At this point Ellis Morgan came on to put in another solid performance at hooker, replacing Jack Gleeson who was rather battered after a good match. Some more good Wimbledon moves saw James halted on the wing and Matt gain good ground in the middle, before the tide started to turn towards Battersea. Sustained pressure from their forwards forced them over in our left hand corner to take the score to 18-12, the missed conversion being the last kick of the match.

A good deal of positives to take from this game. In the past few years we have been able to rely on our passing game to run around the generally slower Battersea side. However they have recently had an injection of new talent with the entire Old Emmanuels three-quarter line making the switch and facing us today. This was a much sterner test and one that we did very well to pass. Our passing game was enough to impress the Battersea coaches and concede that we had deserved the win. Our lineouts and scrum were very solid, despite facing some very big Battersea guys indeed, and we continue to go from strength to strength with our offloading game. On the negative side, we did have some handling errors (particularly when forwards found themselves in an unfamiliar position) and we were often slow to the rucks, conceding turnovers on 2 or 3 occasions. But there will always be room for improvement and these are small faults - once again the team spirit on display was outstanding.

Particular thanks to Aidan O'Brien and Rob Davies who came down although injured and must have had a frustrating hour watching from the sidelines.

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