Wimbledon RFC Maintain Their League Lead
Wimbledon 45 v Havant 0
London League 1 South
Match report for February 7
This was another fine win for Wimbledon and maintains their seven point lead at the top of the league. Havant are no pushovers, as Wimbledon found out during the 29 all draw with them back in October but, despite squandering several golden try scoring opportunities, they still managed to score seven tries without reply - captain Neil Hallett converting all but two.
The first came after fifteen minutes when no.8 Campbell Tait stole Havant’s lineout ball and the pack bulldozed over for lock Shaun Renwick to touch down. Ten minutes later Tait stole another lineout and a lovely inside pass by scrum half Charlie Morgan, who had another excellent all-round game, put prop Pete Wallace over in the corner.
It was Morgan himself who scored the next one, jinking through the defence after yet another Tait steal and fine drive by the pack.
Havant then launched their first real attack of the match, but Wimbledon’s line speed and general defence snuffed it out with relative ease.
The pack scored the next, their powerful drive from a lineout earning a deserved penalty try. Then just before half time wave after wave of Wimbledon attacks ended with centre Ti Pairama crossing by the corner flag to bring up a 33-0 half time scoreline.
Havant came out in the second half with a new determination and had the better of the first 15 minutes, but Dons’ defence remained rock solid and after several costly errant passes, continuous pressure eventually saw Josh Charles make the most of a great break by no.10 Bryan Croke and score in the corner. Unfortunately the winger then had a sudden rush of blood to the head and earned himself a justified red card – the only blot on an otherwise fine performance.
Wimbledon rounded off their afternoon’s work by winning a penalty near Havant’s goal line; quick thinking by Croke and a perfectly timed pass to Rhys Morgan running a great angle and the fullback, now playing scrum hal,f crashed over for try number seven.
There’s a break next Saturday before the big one the following week, away to second-placed Chobham.
Related links
|
