OWs scrape home with narrow win in the wet

On recent form, it should have been an easy win for Walcountians. However, the Counts went into the match without the services of two key players, fly-half Harry Wrightson and flanker Joe Henderson, and their absence told as Walcountians had difficulty in coming to terms with the atrocious conditions. From the kick-off, Walcountians came off second best in the forward battle with Trinity and they did themselves few favours as they squandered what possession they had with poor handling and passing. Only hooker Rob Fleming, who relentlessly drove forward with the ball in hand, played to his true potential.

Walcountians took an early lead after 10 minutes when full-back Ross Norton rifled over a penalty, but the scores were soon level as Trinity replied with a penalty of their own five minutes later. 25 minutes into the first half, Walcountians went behind for the first time when the Trinity pack drove over for a try from a rolling maul.

This sparked Walcountians into action and they had the better of the exchanges up to half-time. Scrum-half Seb Chmielinski had a try disallowed in the 30th minute but the Counts were level by the break after Marvin Fletcher-Rogers rounded the Trinity defence to finish off a move started by Ross Norton and Ed Bellringer and touch down.

Unfortunately, Walcountians did not manage to sustain this level of form in the second half and continued to frustrate the small band of spectators on the touchline. A second Ross Norton penalty in the 10th minute back in front but they continued to come off second best against the Trinity pack and it was another rolling maul which saw Trinity regain the lead in the 20th minute. Fortunately, Walcountians’ defensive tackling was generally good and the Trinity backline was kept in check.

The Counts were thankful that Ross Norton had his kicking boots on as he banged over his third penalty in the 31st minute and that was to prove enough to give Walcountians a narrow victory.

Walcountians have opened up a six point lead at the top of Surrey League 1 and hope to extend it when they travel to Bushy Park to take on Teddington on 9 November. Kick-off is at 2:30pm.

Old Walcountians:- Norton, Fletcher-Rogers, Bateman, Abou-Zeid (D), McMullen, Bentley, Chmielinski, Harris, Fleming, Claustres, Thornton, Thomas, Le Masurier, Bellringer, Evans.

Subs:- Abou-Zeid (A), Stylianou.