Counts revel in the sun
Old Walcountians saw a welcome return to their early season form as they comfortably disposed of Old Freemen’s in the sun at Clock House last Saturday.
The Counts were encouraged by the return from injury of forceful prop Remy Claustres and the pack took hold of the game by the scruff of the neck from the start, dominating possession through fine work by prop Jonny Evans, hooker Rob Fleming and lock Will Thornton, while No8 Joe Henderson was a constant threat with his pacy breaks from rucks. The backs, prompted by intelligent play by half backs Harry Wrightson and Seb Chmielinski, looked far more fluent that they have been of late and revelled in the sunny conditions.
Walcountians took an early lead as Rob Fleming crashed over for an early try converted by centre Ross Norton, and Norton further increased Walcountians’ lead with a penalty. Although Freemen’s narrowed the lead with a penalty of their own, the Counts kept up the pressure and scrum-half Seb Chmielinski increased their lead to 14 points at the break after he broke from a scrum and wriggled over for a try, Ross Norton again converting.
The second half was a personal triumph for the experienced ex-Cobham centre Johnny Wehbe who ran in a hat trick of tries. His still potent pace and intelligent angles of running proved too much for Freemen’s to contain and two early tries took Walcountians’ lead up to 26 points early on. Freemen’s to their credit never gave up and were rewarded with a well-taken try, but it was Wehbe who had the final word by running in his third try of the day to seal victory for the Counts.
Walcountians remain in second place in Surrey League 1 and have narrowed the gap with leaders Law Society to two points. Next Saturday, they travel to Trinity, who are one of four teams with an outside chance of catching Walcountians, so a positive result is essential if the Counts are to maintain their promotion challenge. Kick-off at Lime Meadow Avenue, Sanderstead, is at 2pm.
Old Walcountians:- Vadivelu, McMullen, Norton, Wehbe, Abou-Zeid, Wrightson, Chmielinski, Evans, Fleming, Claustres, Thornton, Thomas, Le Masurier, Bellringer, Henderson.
Subs:- Anderson, Bateman, Rees.
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