Sutton & Epsom 26 v Wimbledon RFC 1XV 15
Wimbledon travelled to Sutton & Epsom on Saturday (March 26) expecting a close game and at the end it proved to be.
Once again Wimbledon made mistakes at the start of the match that gave advantage to the home side after Sutton's left wing spotted enough space to get past the defence and scored after 8 minutes.
Their scrum-half made no mistake with the kick and Wimbledon found themselves 7 – 0 behind.
Even when in possession Wimbledon found themselves under pressure because of indecision by their ball carriers and leading to erratic passing and failures to exploit gaps that may have been present in the Sutton defence.
A second Sutton try came after a Wimbledon off-side led to a line-out in the corner and a try for Sutton’s no.7 after a clean take by their no.5. The conversion was missed.
Wimbledon were able to reply with a penalty from Driscoll after Sutton were offside at a kick-off, but then the first half ended with Sutton’s scrum half scoring near to the posts, he also converted it to make a half-time score of 19 – 3.
The second half started with more handling errors and indecision from some Wimbledon players, gifting another tray to Sutton’s flanker which was again converted.
At 26 – 3 the game appeared over but Wimbledon’s forwards came into the game with Matt Lambert and Andre Watson prominent and secured quicker possession to create chances.
The play of Richard Finch in the centre and David Sharp at fullback was an example to the less decisive members of the back division and led to pressure on the Sutton defence which produced errors from them. Winger Lewis Gage and centre Jamie Harries also showed maturity beyond their years.
Sutton had earlier put them selves under pressure by talking back to the referee Mr Dodd and on two occasions being marched back 20 metres with penalties awarded to Wimbledon.
They also had one yellow card awarded against them for the same reason. Wimbledon’s pressure led to two tries being scored, one by Driscoll which he also converted after a long break from flanker Ed Lewis and then by winger Ben Sykes, that could not be converted.
At the end prop Joey Nanau managed to drop the ball when he was over the line and after more pressure again failing to ground the ball Wimbledon might just have won this close match. But it ended in another disappointing day for Wimbledon.
April 4, 2011
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