Nightmare for OWs as they crash to worst defeat in years

The Counts came off second best to Twickenham in nearly all areas of play, and it was only solid tackling in the first 30 minutes which restricted the home side to a single penalty. Failure to retain possession was one of Walcountians’ principal faults, and the lack of support in numbers for ball carriers contributed to a large penalty count against them, which Twickenham gratefully exploited. The only positives that the Counts could draw on were the performances of lock Pete Thomas whose hard work in carrying the ball gave the home side’s defence the most concern and scrum-half James Henderson, whose accurate passing from the base of the scrum and judicious tactical kicking got Walcountians out of trouble on several occasions.

Once Twickenham had scored their first try in the 30th minute, the floodgates opened. Twickenham ran in two more tries by half-time, courtesy of winger Arthur Polley and flanker Jim Moore and, after the break, scored four more through No 8 Nick Smith (2), replacement centre Alex Stagg and scrum-half Sam Goddard. To their credit, Walcountians rallied strongly in the final 10 minutes in a brave attempt to open their account, but they were unsuccessful with their attempts to breach the Twickenham line. The closest they came was when replacement centre Heath Bateman was held up close to the line.

Walcountians have slipped down to eighth place in Counties League 1 Surrey/Sussex as a result of the defeat. Next Saturday, they face another stiff test when they take on an in-form KCS Old Boys. Kick-off at Clock House, Carshalton Road, Woodmansterne is at 2pm.

Old Walcountians:- Fletcher-Rogers, Stylianou, Togbolah, Barnaby, Brown, Skinner, Henderson (James), Ford, Tilleray, Acquah, Bell, Thomas, Le Masurier, Henderson (Joe), Lawrence.

Subs:- Bateman, Harris, Murphy.