Convincing Win for Dons Over Unbeaten League Leaders


Rugby Result: Regional 1 South Central - Wimbledon 41 – 14 Oxford Harlequins


Picture: Wimbledon RFC/Facebook

For the opening five minutes of this match it looked as though the unbeaten league leaders, Oxford Harlequins, were going to give Wimbledon a very hard time in this first ever meeting between the two clubs.

As it turned out though, it was quite the opposite, and having absorbed the visitor’s sustained attack it was Dons who scored. Stand off Ed Morgan broke from deep and took play well into the OH half, shipped the ball to scrum half Alex Kerr who offloaded to Brad Pinkham and the wing was in at the corner. The wind took Morgan’s kick just wide.

Almost immediately the first of two lovely breaks by wing Ollie Kitto just failed to produce another try, but his second yielded an excellent score by centre Henry Peuble via fellow centre Paul Hendry. The wind again denied Dons the conversion.

Against the run of play OH then reduced their deficit to 10-7 after a long kick to near the Wimbledon goal line resulted in a converted try. But after five minutes of classic Wimbledon back play, the pack finished the job with hooker Jake Farnworth touching down for try number three and fullback Ally Duddell added the extras. It was all Wimbledon now and just before half-time the pack began a drive from a 5m lineout, the entire back line added their weight and Farnworth was in for his second try.

Starting the second half 22-7 ahead it took just eight minutes for that to increase to 29-7 after flanker David Aniebonam bullied his way through the defence and setting Kitto off on one of his electric jinking runs to score Dons’ fifth try, converted by Morgan.

A good re-start by OH resulted in a 5m lineout, from which quick ball across the pitch led to their wing scoring in the corner and a very good conversion making it 29-14. But Wimbledon soon regained total control and the pack, again with added weight from the backs drove over for lock Jake Cleet to get his name on the scoresheet. He was soon joined, following a repeat performance from the pack after a 5m lineout, by flanker Luke Cerely, and Morgan’s conversion brought up the final score of 41-14, just as the end of a perfect rainbow fell on Wimbledon’s clubhouse. There may not have been gold there, but #. there was a great atmosphere after this excellent all-round Wimbledon performance, which took them to the top of the table. It’s one they’ll need to reproduce next week away to fourth-placed Maidenhead.

Away at Dorking Wimbledon 2nd XV also had a very good result, winning 17-36, with tries by Harry Jinks, George Brosch, Tom Bracegirdle and a hattrick for Max Lufkin.

 

Like Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We've always done that and won't be changing, in fact we'd like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we'd be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you'd like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

October 17, 2022