After the previous week's home victory in their first game of their first season in London One the London Irish Wild Geese travelled to near neighbours Cobham on Saturday for the second round of the league.

Building on the previous week experience, the Geese management went into the game with a policy of prompting the younger players from the selection panel.

The game started at a fast and furious pace which not only suited the home side but saw the Geese on the back foot and 3 points down from an early penalty. However the Geese quickly recovered and when the home team gave away two penalties, Barry McLaughlin’s boot got the Geese into the lead by six points to three.

Proving why they are a good London One side Cobham answered the penalties by pushing the Geese up the pitch and slotting over a drop goal to even up the score.

With twenty minutes gone the Geese increased the intensity and speed of their play and this saw them not only take the ball into contact more aggressively, but also get the ball from the contact zone and out to the backs with increasing confidence, safe in the knowledge that support players would always be on hand.

As a result Chris Brown and Jack Marcezewski both scored tries in quick succession, only one of which was converted. As half time approached the home team answered the Geese with a try of their own to leave the half time score at 11 – 18.

As the second half got underway the Geese put the pressure back on the home team with two smartly executed moves in quick succession that saw both David Dunne and Ben Kitching go over to extend the Geese’s lead by a further ten points.

If the London Irish Geese thought that it was game set and match, they were sorely mistaken as the home side up their game, and kept the Geese well and truly pinned down on the try line for a full twenty minutes.

However stout hearted defence from the pack kept Cobham from scoring any tries, they did, however force a penalty and gain an extra three points.

In the last quarter of the game the Geese, started to regain the upper hand and as a result, the Geese slowly pushed the home team back up the pitch, leading to penalty which Barry Maclaughlin duly scored. With the wind back in their sails the Geese once again pushed forward from the restart to quickly put Ben Kitching under the posts leaving David Dunne with the easiest of conversions.

In the dying minutes of the game Cobham once again tried to pressure the Geese defence, but they never looked like getting over the 10 meter line leaving the Geese with their second win in two weeks as the full time whistle blew.

Next Saturday 18th September the Geese host our other near neighbours, Chobham at home on the Avenue in Sunbury with a 3PM kick off.

Team: Jonny Hyndman, Connor Browne, Charlie Connor, Scott Moore, Matt Bennet, Paul Kerr, Chris Browne, Toby Pritchard-Davies, Jack Marczewski, David Dunne, George Owen, Barry McLaughlin, Ben Kitching, Matt Guy, Lawrence Price, Liam O'Dowd, David Colborn, Liam Prescott.

Cobham 15 London Irish Wanderers 22

In the team’s first league outing of the season the Wanderers lined out with a strong squad combining team regulars and new comers.

At the start of the game the Wanders came out hard and fast against the home team. As a result for the opening 35 minutes the Wanderers kept the home side pinned down in their half, which was reflected in the early score line of three tries and one conversion.

Despite their clear advantage the team let a few chances slip near Cobham’s try line, which left the Wanderers with a half time lead of 17 points to 5.

During the half time break the home team must have had a serious talking too as they came back hard at the Wanderers. A combination of two predicable and strong ball carriers and some ill-discipline at the breakdown by the Wanderers allowed the home team back into the game.

With the pack leading the way the Wanderers put up a heroic display of defence in the second half resulting in the Wanderers limiting the home side to 15 points.

During the half the Wanderers had only about 20% of ball possession, but when they did have the possession they made good use of it, by spreading it wide and making considerable ground, so much so that the team were able to score another try to seal their victory of 22 points to 15.

The Wanderers will next play Chobam at home with a 3PM kick off on Saturday 18th September.