Rugby union: Wimbledon lost 34-7 at home to Sidcup

Wimbledon started this London & SE Premier Division match brightly but after about 10 minutes or so it became apparent that Sidcup weren’t about to let them out of their 22.

The Dons did get into Sidcup’s half occasionally but it was only late in the first half that they made a deep incursion when a rare good attack ended with a try for full-back Brad Pinkham only for him to be adjudged to have made a double movement.

And with minutes of the match remaining they did score, centre Finn Taylor racing in for a try after pouncing on a loose ball on halfway. Number 10 Henry Peuble put over a fine conversion from near touch. From the restart a break by Peuble led to his forwards coming closer to scoring than they had been all game, but Sidcup’s defence held.

Apart from those brief glimpses of what Wimbledon are capable of it was all Sidcup.

Their superior pack denied Wimbledon all but scraps of set-piece possession and won numerous turnovers at the breakdown.

Dons did not help themselves by too often losing the ball in the tackle and – worse still – conceding 20 or so penalties, four of which were converted in the first half from the fine boot of Sidcup’s Josh Twyford, adding a fifth after half time.

Credit though must go to every Wimbledon player for their excellent tackling, without which the visitor’s wealth of possession and territorial advantage would certainly have yielded several more scores. As it was they were only able to cross Wimbledon’s line through their increasingly dominant pack, who drove over three times in the second half. Two of those tries were also converted by Twyford.

Overall however, it was a poor performance by Wimbledon who looked like a group of talented individuals that had never played together before which, courtesy of the lengthy injury list, is not far short of the truth. The addition to the list in this match of hooker Bradley Ugodulunwa and scrum half Alex Kerr is not going to help either.

Wimbledon remain fifth in the league and hopefully, with one or two returning from injury, will bounce back to winning ways in this weekend’s away match against Brighton.