Victory looked a million miles away for the Counts in the opening 15 minutes as a dominant Amplefordians pack repeatedly drove play into the Walcountians half of the field and the visitors’ backline stretched the Walcountians defence to the limits. It took Amplefordians just five minutes to open the scoring when centre Jack Peter, who was a constant threat all afternoon, went over for a try after being set up by second phase ball from a ruck in the Walcountians’ 22.

Walcountians’ skipper Joe Lawrence rallied his troops, and the pack started to win a decent share of possession, with props James Ford and veteran Paul Harris driving Amplefordians backwards with powerful ball-carrying and flanker Joe Henderson a constant threat with his pace when breaking from rucks. The backs started to prosper with a greater availability of the ball and fly-half Hal Mogridge had an outstanding match, both with his elusive breaks and in setting up threequarter moves. In the 20th minutes, the scores were level after full-back Omarie Brown scored a spectacular try as he sidestepped past three attempted tackles. Centre Olly Sanders added the conversion.

The Counts took the lead in the 28th minute when winger Karmanie Brown opened up the Amplefordians defence with an explosive break and, from the resultant ruck, the ball was slipped to powerhouse centre Olly Sanders who punched his way through the last line of defenders to touch down. Sanders added the conversion to put the Counts seven points clear.

Amplefordians were far from out of the game and gave the Counts a timely reminder of their ability in the 33rd minute when full-back Harry Stephenson tore down the left wing like a rocket and exposed defensive weaknesses as he ran in for a try. Nevertheless, the Counts held a two-point advantage at half-time.

The visitors suffered an early setback in the second half when lock Nathan Hargreaves had to go off with an injury. However, they remained a threat and Walcountians had a let-off in the seventh minute when Amplefordians fly-half Ludovic Milne missed a penalty. The Counts luck ran out in the 13th minute when lock Dom Bell was sin-binned for an illegal clear-out at a ruck and Amplefordians took advantage of the one-man advantage as Jack Peter outpaced the Counts’ defence to score his second try of the day.

Walcountians had good reason to think they had sealed their first League victory in 2026-27 when Hal Mogridge hammered a lengthy kick towards the Amplefordians’ tryline after breaking from his own half and Omarie Brown won the chase to the loose ball to score Walcountians’ third try. But failure to maintain discipline in loose play in the closing minutes proved costly as Amplefordians took advantage to drive play up to the Counts’ five-metre line. They won the resultant lineout, and a forward drive saw them score the all-important try which won them the game.

Walcountians are next in action on 14 November when they take on Old Whitgiftians at Clock House. Kick-off is at 2:30pm.

Old Walcountians:- Brown (O), Brown (M), Sanders, Moorhead (S), Brown (K), Mogridge, Moorhead (L), Ford, Dore, Harris, Lawrence, Bell, Henderson, French, Tilleray.

Subs:- Beeson, Camakamma, Smart.