A combination of injuries, illness and Saturday working decimated the numbers of players available, and the Counts were forced to recall veterans Callum Stone at full-back and Ben Anderson at tight-head prop. However, it was the Counts who looked more likely to open the scoring in the first 20 minutes as the forwards, with flankers Tony French and Sam Charnock outstanding in foraging for possession, providing a solid platform for the backs, where scrum-half James Bacon was the mainspring behind many of their attacking moves. Unfortunately, the Counts were unable to find a way through the Hamptonians’ defence.

As the match progressed, the visitors began to find their rhythm and their excellent standard of ball distribution and support play began to stretch Walcountians. To their credit, the Counts but in an excellent shift of defensive tackling which kept the visitors at bay, but eventually the dam broke and tries in the 20th, 27th and 31st minutes gave Hamptonians a 17-point lead at half-time.

Walcountians continued to hold off Hamptonians in the opening minutes of the second half but, 15 minutes in, the visitors got their fourth try.
Walcountians could not be faulted for the effort they put in, and they had the Hamptonians line under pressure on several occasions. However, the closest they came to scoring was when centre Spencer Moorhead and winger Michael Beaubrun were held up just short of the line.

Walcountians suffered a setback when prop James Ford had to leave the field with an injury and No 8 Andy Togbolah had to switch to the front row. They also gave a considerable advantage to the visitors by conceding an endless stream of penalties for scrum and ruck infringements, and were reduced to 14 players for 10 minutes after Sam Charnock was sin-binned. Tries from Hamptonians in the 23rd, 30th and 40th minute sealed a comfortable victory.

Walcountians are next in action on 28 February when they take on Old Whitgiftians at their Clock House ground. Kick-off is at 2:30pm.

Old Walcountians:- Stone, Beaubrun, Fletcher-Rogers, Moorhead (S), Moorhead (L), Hodgson, Bacon, Ford, Camakamma, Anderson, Lawrence, Sanders, French (A), Charnock, Togbolah.

Sub:- French (B).