Counts held to draw in the wet

Walcountians took some time to adjust to the appalling playing conditions with constant heavy rain and they spend much of the opening quarter on the defensive as the home side frequently took advantage of the Counts failure to hold onto possession. The Counts were three points down after just two minutes when Cranleighans fly-half Ed Sanderson rifled over a penalty.

As the match progressed, Walcountians began to tighten their grip on possession. The pack, anchored by powerful scrummaging by props Jonny Evans and Remy Claustres, repeatedly drove the Cranleighans eight off the ball in the set scrums, while skipper Will Thornton was a towering presence in both the lineouts and the loose. Walcountians’ half-backs Liam Cleary and Seb Chmielinski also put in masterful performances in the monsoonlike conditions but the threequarters were well-policed by a solid Cranleighans defence and no points came. The closest Walcountians were to scoring was in the fifth minute of stoppage time when full-back Ross Norton was off-target with a penalty.

The second half saw Walcountians continue where they left off in the first, and they were rewarded with a penalty try in the 12th minute when a Cranleighan flanker tried to interfere with play as Walcountians shunted his side backwards from a 5-metre scrum. Their backs continued to have a frustrating afternoon as the conditions and the determination of the Cranleighans defence continued to frustrate them, but a successful penalty from the boot of Ross Norton gave Walcountians a seven-point lead by the 25th minute.

The closing minutes of the match were played with uncontested scrums after Cranleighans lost one of their props through injury and were unable to replace him. Under RFU laws, the match should have been awarded to Walcountians as they were leading at the time. This also gave Cranleighans relief from the brutal hammering they were taking at the hands of the Walcountians pack in the set scrums and, in the 35th minute, they levelled the score following an opportunistic breakout against the run of play which led to a maul on Walcountians’ line from which they scored a converted try.

Walcountians are waiting for the result of an adjudication from the RFU on the result. If a win is awarded, this could put them in pole position in London League 3 South West, which would be impressive for a club that has just been promoted.

Walcountians have no fixture next weekend and return to League action on 16 October when they take on Andover, who have also made a strong start to the season. Kick-off at Clock House is at 3pm.

Old Walcountians:- Norton, Fletcher-Rogers, Wrightson, Bateman, Vadivelu, Cleary, Chmielinski, Evans, Tilleray, Claustres, Thornton, Lawrence, Bellringer, Fleming, Henderson.

Subs:- Ford, Thomas, Togbolah.