OWs move up to fifth after second League win

The match remained scoreless in the opening 25 minutes as the Counts took time to find their rhythm, and the visitors belied their lowly status by putting Walcountians under pressure. The Cranleighans backline, with fly-half Sam Lubbock outstanding, forced Walcountians into several uncomfortable moments defending their line.

In the 25th minute, Walcountians finally made a breakthrough. The pack recycled the ball from a ruck in the Cranleighans 22 to launch the threequarters and powerful centre Dom Barnaby scored his fifth try of the season as he shook off the Cranleighans defensive cover to touch down. Fly-half Seb Chmielinski added the conversion.

From then on, Walcountians were largely in control of the match. Aided by hard, driving runs in which hooker Callum Tilleray and the back row of Olly Sanders, Joe Henderson and Tom Brown excelled, Walcountians’ pack won the physical battle up front while, behind the scrum, half-backs Seb Chmielinski and Liam Moorhead linked superbly and pinned the visitors in their own half for most of the match.

The Counts extended their lead in the 31st minute when Dom Barnaby opened up the Cranleighans’ defence with another searing break and offloaded to fellow centre Alex French who went over for his first try at this level. Seb Chmielinski added the conversion.

Walcountians extended their lead to 21 points at the break when Seb Chmielinski opened up the Cranleighans’ defence with a mazy run and offloaded to winger Brendan Murphy to touch down, and they secured bonus points in the first minute of the second half when replacement prop Michael Acquah smashed his way past attempted tacklers to touch down from a tap penalty.

Unfortunately, complacency then crept into Walcountians’ game and Cranleighans took advantage of this lapse to get themselves back into the game. Ten minutes into the second half, their forwards drove over for a try from a maul on the Counts’ line. A horrendous defensive error after 23 minutes where the backs lost possession near their own line gifted a second try to Cranleighans left-winger George Blurton, and the visitors were little more than two converted tries away from overhauling Walcountians’ lead.

The shock of conceding ten points woke Walcountians up and they went back on the offensive. A threequarter move launched from a recycle of the ball at a ruck gave replacement winger Andy Togbolah the opportunity to score his third try of the season in the 30th minute, while the remaining scores came from Seb Chmielinski who converted a penalty in the 34th minute and caught Cranleighanss napping when he took a quick tap penalty and touched down for a try in the 41st minute.

The visitors were not finished and inside-centre Tom Puijk ran in a try in the sixth minute of stoppage time as he broke through the Counts’ defence with an angled run.

The win has taken Walcountians up to fifth place in Counties League 1 Surrey/Sussex, no mean achievement considering that they are missing several first choice players through injury. Next Saturday, they take on newly-promoted East Grinstead at Clock House, kicking off at 3pm. Prior to the match, there will be a tribute to Matt Ratana, the former East Grinstead coach who previously played for Walcountians and who was murdered while on police duty in 2020.

Old Walcountians:- Erhirhie, Brown (O), French, Barnaby, Murphy, Chmielinski, Moorhead, Bell, Tilleray, Harris, Thomas, Lawrence, Sanders, Henderson, Brown (T).

Subs:- Acquah, Blackmore, Togbolah.