Walcountians had the upper hand through most of the game through an advantage in both possession and territory and scored more tries than the hosts, but found to their cost that any penalty conceded in their own half presented Caterhamians with a scoring opportunity.

The opening minutes saw Walcountians on top as their scrum, anchored by solid scrummaging performances by props Andy Scales and Steve Cowlin, shoved the home pack off the ball, and was reinforced by aggressive driving runs by locks Dom Bell and Will Thornton. The Caterhamians line was under siege in the opening ten minutes but Walcountians only managed one score as Thornton powered his way over for a try from short range after six minutes, fly-half Matt Witcomb converting.

Walcountians got an early warning of what was to come in the tenth minute when Caterhamians inside-centre Davidson banged over a penalty close to the 10-metre line.

Walcountians continued to dominate possession and territory for much of the first half, but failure to make use of their backline allowed the home side to close down many of their attacks. Walcountians’most penetrative backs were old stagers Ollie Beales and Chris Drinkwater who were particularly dangerous when counter-attacking from deep.

Caterhamians had still to mount an attack within the Walcountians 22 when Davidson stepped up to convert three penalties in the 30th, 35th and 41st minutes to put the home side in front at the break.

The agony continued for Walcountians in the second half as Davidson continued to bang over penalties from near the 10-metre line. Three more in the first ten minutes of the second half extended their lead to 14 points.

The balance of possession started to turn Caterhamians way as the second half progressed and Walcountians’ heads began to drop. From this platform, Caterhamians finally breached Walcountians’ line in the 28th minute when their scrum-half Briant touched down after chasing a long kick put in by fly-half Bownas.

Walcountians launched a furious rally in the closing stages which drove Caterhamians back to their own line. In the 30th minute, they broke through as centre Joe Wright finished off a threequarter move started from a tap penalty 10 metres from the Caterhamians’ line.
The match had a bizarre ending. The referee blew for full-time ten minutes early but, after the two coaches explained this and conferral with the two teams, they returned to play for a further ten minutes. No further scores resulted.

Next Saturday, Walcountians take on bottom club Croydon in a match they need to win to avoid getting sucked into the relegation zone. Kick-off at Clock House is at 2:30pm.

Old Walcountians:- Beales, Vadivelu, Ryan, Wright, Drinkwater, Witcomb, Stone, Scales, Fleming, Cowlin, Bell, Thornton, Fowler, Brown, Henderson.
Subs:- Evans, Fletcher-Rogers, Housden.