Westcombe Park 23 Wimbledon 15 – Disappointment for Dons

This was a disappointing result for Wimbledon, even though the two teams London & SE Premier League sides were fairly evenly matched they will feel that they should have come away with a win.

They started well enough, getting straight into their usual running game despite the heavy pitch, but Westcombe Park soon showed that they liked to keep the ball alive too and were the first to score just 10 minutes in. Wimbledon conceded their first penalty, Combe kicked long into the corner and out of the maul formed from the lineout hooker Charles burst clear and dived over for a try.

Dons came back 10 minutes later after lock Jack Cooke won good lineout ball – as he and flanker Ted Bunn did for most of the game – the pack drove 15 metres and after several attempts bulldozed over for number eight Jake Rigby to touch down near the posts. Scrum-half Owen Davies added the extras, to put his team 5-7 ahead.

Combe soon regained the lead though when Dons wing Tom Milner went for an intercept which the ref deemed a deliberate knock-on and yellow carded him. Combe scrum-half Buckley converted the penalty.

At this point in the game Dons began to fall foul of the referee, particularly at the lineout, and several times lost hard–won territory. There were still a number of good Wimbledon attacks by the backs, set up by a solid scrum by good driving mauls, with prop Abu Abdul in particular making a real nuisance of himself around the fringes, but Combe’s defence was up to it. Dons’ defence looked as good as ever until, approaching half time, Combe’s centre broke through to give flanker Hyne a clear run to the line and put his side 13-7 ahead.

Wimbledon started the second half strongly with a succession of flowing moves by the backs brought about a ruck near the corner and skipper Cooke claimed the score. Unluckily Davies’ conversion hit the post.

But then it all started to go wrong for Wimbledon. Apart from conceding an almost endless stream of penalties, in their efforts to keep the ball alive they kept losing possession by too often trying to offload in the tackle rather than go to ground and let the pack ruck the ball. Davies did manage to put Wimbledon 13-15 ahead 15 minutes into the half, but their lead was brief, Buckley’s penalty conversion soon after putting Combe a point ahead.

After number 10 Steve Boatman’s lovely kick to create a five-metre lineout for Dons, three dangerous looking attacks came to an end with a daft penalty and with it their chances of a win. With 10 minutes remaining Boatman was yellow-carded for a deliberate trip on a Combe player who looked certain to score – and from the resulting penalty Combe drove over to score and Buckley’s conversion settled matters for the day.

Wimbledon will be looking for a five-point win against CS Stags this weekend to close the gap between themselves and fourth-placed North Walsham.