Old Whitgiftians 13 v 12 Old Walcountians

Old Whitgiftians scraped a slightly unlikely victory from Old Walcountians in this Surrey One match at Croham Road on Saturday, writes David Stranack.

Both teams started from relatively equal positions in the league, and it was Whitgiftians who went ahead in the first few minutes with a penalty goal struck by Les Todd.

Thereafter it was a tussle between the two packs of forwards, in which Whitgift dominated, and the two sets of outsides, where Walcountians were in control for much of the match.

Whitgiftians achieved a huge amount of possession from both the set pieces and the loose but once the ball was out in the open the Whitgift backs struggled to make effective use of it.

Passes went forward, passes were dropped or knocked on, and players were caught in possession and it was from a badly timed Whitgiftian pass that Walcountians achieved their first score.

The ball, thrown away with apparent abandon in the Whitgift centre, was gratefully intercepted by the Walcountian winger who had no difficulty outpacing the wrong footed defence to score under the posts.

The pattern continued for most of the first half - Whitgift with abundant possession, but making such poor use of it that the home side was always vulnerable to a counter attack. And sure enough the Walcountian winger, scorer of their first try, was presented with a second opportunity and didn’t stop to ask questions.

With a half time score of 3-12 against them and turning round to play up the hill, the chances of a home win seemed slight.

There are some talented players in the Whitgiftian team but so far this season they seem to have lacked a collective sense of energy, enthusiasm and determination.

For much of the match, although dominated up front, it was Walcountians that made the running.

It wasn’t until the last quarter that Whitgift finally managed to get their act together and began to fulfil their potential.

Fly half Graham Jordan – always a dangerous runner – broke the first line of defence and this time threw out a perfect pass to centre Les Todd who had no difficulty sprinting in for the try.

In the closing minutes Whitgiftians were belatedly in charge. A penalty kick followed by a five metre line out and a loose maul gave Graham Jordan another chance to go for the line. In a flash he was round the blind side and not in a mood to be stopped.

An unlikely win for Whitgiftians, but one that certainly strengthens their position in the league.