Old Walcountians put behind them the disappointment of losing their opening League game last weekend by storming their way to the second round of the RFU Junior Vase with a 73-7 win over Kent League Two side Askeans, writes Rob Murphy.

The visitors put in a decent effort and gave Walcountians a good challenge for possession in the forwards, but were completely unable to match the home side’s devastating pace and firepower behind the scrum.

This became apparent as early as the third minute when Walcountians opened their account for the day. Lock Tom McDowell set up a ruck from which the ball was spun out to the threequarters for Kiwi centre Dan Crompton to speed in for a try.

Walcountians were made to work hard for possession in the opening 30 minutes and were indebted to fine performances from skipper Alex Sutherland who repeatedly secured good lineout possession and to No 8 Gavin Welsh and flanker Jack South, whose energetic foraging in the loose created many opportunities for the backs to run the ball.

Walcountians second try came in the 15th minute when fly-half Chris Mockford showed great composure to hold a loose pass under pressure and step inside a tackle to put winger Chris Drinkwater in the clear to score.

Full-back Ollie Beales added his first of nine conversions.

The third try came ten minutes later when scrum-half Callum Stone whipped the ball out of a scrum to find winger Chris Walsh, who outpaced the Askeans defence for a converted try.

Walcountians effectively won the match and broke Askeans’ resistance with a four-try blitz either side of half-time.

The first came from Chris Walsh who scored his second try of the day by picking up a long pass from centre Tim Chauncey and leaving the Askeans’ defence for dead.

Then, from the kick-off, Walcountians counter-attacked and Jack South made the space for Dan Crompton to score his second by holding off two attempted tackles.

The third came on the brink of half-time as Chris Drinkwater fielded a kick and left the Askeans’ defence floundering with an explosive break before drawing the full-back to put Ollie Beales in for a try.

The fourth came within two minutes of the restart when the Walcountians pack drove play upfield before releasing the ball to Chris Mockford who drew a tackler before releasing Tim Chauncey to outpace the Askeans’ defence.

Askeans still showed commitment and were rewarded with a try in the 13th minute when their scrum-half took advantage of slack Walcountians defending to slip through their defence after braking from a scrum in the Walcountians 22.

Walcountians brought on fresh legs in the shape of centre Sam Naylor, lock Simon Fowler and flanker Matt Houghton and continued to pile on the agony for a tiring Askeans as they ran in four more tries.

Tim Chauncey, Dan Crompton and Chris Walsh all took their try tally for the day to three and the referee blew for full-time 10 minutes early as the game had become too one-sided.

Walcountians visit last year’s Surrey Two champions Teddington in a Surrey League One clash at Bushy Park this Saturday (3pm).

Walcountians were the only team to beat Teddington in a league match last season.