The Counts suffered an early blow when scrum-half James Bacon pulled a hamstring barely a minute into the match. They were to miss his accurate touch kicking and penetrative breaks.

It took the visitors just three minutes to open the scoring as their backs opened a yawning gap in Walcountians’ defence to score the first of six tries. The Counts never looked like getting back into the game as poor ball distribution, allied to a tendency to concede penalties at rucks hamstrung their efforts to take the game to Purley John Fisher. The visitors in contrast were precise in their passing and handling, and excellent support play saw them regain possession whenever they made a mistake.

Further tries in the 10th and 20th minutes gave Purley John Fisher a 19-point lead at half-time. The closest the Counts came to scoring was in the final minute of the half when full-back Omarie Brown was held up near the Purley line after taking an offload from winger Olly Sanders.

Walcountians had the slope in their favour in the second half but were still unable to make any impression as Purley John Fisher continued to dictate the direction of play. Yellow cards for centre Andy Togbolah and flanker Sam Charnock briefly saw Walcountians reduced to 13 players and Purley John Fisher took advantage of the Counts’ short-handedness to run in tries in the 15th, 19th and 29th minutes.

Walcountians finally earned some reward in the final minute of the match when lock Dom Bell, the People's Champion, thundered over for a try from a tap penalty.

Next Saturday, Walcountians travel to Hersham to take on Worth Old Boys. In contrast to Walcountians, Worth have made a strong start and are currently second in the League after winning three of their four matches. Kick-off at Whiteley Village is at 3pm.

Old Walcountians:- Brown (O), Beaubrun, Togbolah, Henderson, Sanders, Moorhead, Bacon, Tilleray, Dore, Ford, Bell, Orji, Camakamma, Charnock, Lawrence.

Subs:- Brown (K), Brown (M), Harris, Mogridge, Smart.