1st XV
Matches
Sat 02 Apr 2022  ·  London 3 South West
Alton
24
27
Old Walcountians RFC
1st XV
Counts fight back to overcome brave Alton

Counts fight back to overcome brave Alton

Rob Murphy3 Apr 2022 - 14:53
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Old Walcountians fought back from a twelve-point deficit to pull off a narrow win against lowly Alton last Saturday.

On paper, it should have been an easy win for fourth-placed Walcountians against a team only four places off the bottom of the League and who were heavily beaten the previous weekend. But the Hampshire side started by far the stronger and were dominating the set pieces and the contact area and, within the first ten minutes, were in the lead when their inside-centre Ollie Fielder crossed for a converted try to finish a well-worked threequarter move. A penalty eight minutes later extended the home side’s lead to eight points.

The Counts were unable to break through a solid and well-drilled Alton defence until the 35th minute when their pack made a quick recycle of the ball from a ruck in the Alton 22 and released jet-heeled winger Marvin Fletcher-Rogers to touch down in the corner.
Having got back into the game, Walcountians were rocked back on their heels when Alton extended their lead in the second minute of stoppage time as the pack followed up on a break by scrum-half Ollie Burden and went over for a second converted try putting them twelve points clear.

Walcountians however started to show the form which took them to within a whisker of the promotion places in the second half, and the addition of prop Remy Claustres and lock Dom Bell added further ballast to the Counts pack who began to lay siege to the Alton line. In the 15th minute, their efforts finally paid off when they recycled the ball from a ruck in the Alton 22, from which fly-half Liam Cleary’s diagonal run created space for centre Dharshan Vadivelu to run in his tenth try of the season.

As Walcountians continued to pile on the pressure, they ran in two more tries which put them in the lead for the first time in the match. The first came from centre Dany Abou-Zeid in the 20th minute as he held off two attempted tackles. The second’ in the 34th minute, came from Marvin Fletcher-Rogers who scored his fifth try in as many games since returning from injury when he capitalised on a bullocking run by centre Heath Bateman and stepped inside an attempted tackle to touch down.

As the match ran into time added on, Alton proved they were far from finished when fly-half Joe Gwyther cut through the Counts defence like a knife through butter to score a converted try which drew them level with Walcountians. But Walcountians were to have the final word seven minutes into stoppage time when the steady boot of full-back Ross Norton came to the rescue as he goaled a penalty to win the match.

Walcountians can be pleased with their first season in London League 3 South West as they finished in an impressive fourth place, just short of the two promotion places. Even more impressive was the resilience and depth in the squad as nine regular players were absent through injury at various points of the season. Apart from the club’s annual tour and seven-a-side tournaments, the season is now finished for the Counts who will be resuming pre-season training in July.

Old Walcountians:- Norton, Fletcher-Rogers, Vadivelu, Abou-Zeid, Stylianou, Cleary, Chmielinski, Evans, Ford, Harris, Thornton, Lawrence, Bellringer, Fleming, Henderson.

Subs:- Bateman, Bell, Claustres.

Match details

Match date

Sat 02 Apr 2022

Kickoff

15:00

Competition

London 3 South West

League position

4
Old Walcountians
8
Alton
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Shirt Sponsor - Opus Cleaning
Shirt Sponsor - Vadivelu Group
Shirt Sponsor - Roach Brothers Ltd
Shirt Sponsor - Moorhead Construction & Landscaping
Shirt Sponsor - Aorta
Shirt Sponsor - Dodwells LTD.
Shirt Sponsor - FPS Arborist