Spartans scrap their way to victory

The 2nd XV got their season underway on Saturday, with a memorable win away against Old Johnians.

With several players making their first starts of the season and one debutante, the side could have been excused for needing time to bed in. Old Johnians, complete with coach, physio and merry band of supporters, took an early lead after the infamous Old Walcountians five minute warm-up took its toll! However, following the missed conversion, the experienced Counts forwards began to assert an authority that wouldn't let up for the full 80 minutes. Openside flanker Joe Baker carried the ball hard into the opposition 22 and after the OJs back line strayed offside, a successful penalty took the score to 3-5.

A heavy-weight OWs forward pack, including Ben Anderson, Russ Carson and Steve Simmonds continued to dominate at every set piece, but that domination couldn't be converted into more points as a technically sound Johnians defence forced handling errors and closed down space. The half ended with a successful penalty attempt from the OJs 10, whose strong boot was ultimately under-used by his side, leaving the score 3-8 at half time.
Having committed to expanding the points of attack more after the interval, the first ten minutes of the second half undid all of the good work done in the first half by Walcountians. A hashed box kick from captain Andy Gill, starting his first match at scrum half, led to a quick line-out where Johnians shipped the ball down the line and scored on the overlap. A missed conversion was scant consolation for the rattled visitors. Straight from the restart, Johnians again made the most of errors in the OWs defence as their openside flanker ran through two tackles to score under the posts. The successful conversion suddenly giving the score line a very one-sided feel at 3-20.

These errors, and a re-focus on the basics that had proved so fruitful in the first half, saw the Counts seize back the initiative. Mark Turner, now pulling the strings at ten, sent Heath Bateman crashing through the Johnians defence on numerous occasions. The holes created by the hard-hitting 12 allowed the likes of blindside flanker Josh Swarbrick and the industrious Tony Aitken, to carry more and more ball, to telling effect. Another damaging break from the forwards saw Bateman drive over for a well over-due converted try for the Counts - 10-20.
The set-piece was still the OWs greatest strength and Pob Warren, returning at hooker after injury, consistently found his jumpers at line-out time, with Deakin and Baker forming the base of several successful mauls down field. After the latest excursion into the opposition half, a wayward kick from the otherwise solid OJs fullback, was collected by George Shaw and returned with interest! Shaw dummied the on-rushing fullback and subsequently beat four defenders on a mazy run towards the line only to be scragged by a desperate lunge from their scrum half. This was not to stop Shaw though who threw a skillful offload out of the back of his hand 'Sonny-Bill style' to the supporting Spencer Moorhead who scooted over to score. The successful conversion from Gill saw the score move to 17-20.

The Walcountians back line was now really starting to hurt Johnians, who eventually needed two injury replacements. Some direct running from fullback Dan Simmonds and new centre George Smith led to an increasing pressure on the OJs defence which looked susceptible to shipping more points. Simmonds Snr. needed no further encouragement as a quick-tap penalty saw him set Carson free on a barreling run towards the line. A neat offload to Moorhead, who still had plenty to do, saw the winger rewarded for his tireless running and resolute defence. Resisting the attentions of the blindside wing and fullback, he muscled over for what would prove the winning score.

A nervy final five minutes saw some savvy ball retention from the Walcountians forwards until the big boot of Carson heralded the final whistle. A gutsy performance from one to 15 saw the Counts take the points from an all-round entertaining league game at Thames Ditton.