Wimbledon 29 London Welsh 18 – Dons earn try bonus point in league win

In the end this was a good win for Wimbledon against a highly-motivated London Welsh team whose backs’ line speed and aggressive defence made life difficult for the home side’s normally free-running backs, whose own defence was a little erratic.

It was a typical start by Wimbledon in this Regional 1 South Central fixture. A clean lineout win in the opposition half, some flowing moves by the backs earning a penalty, the five-metre lineout option was taken, clean ball, powerful drive and hooker Harry Scoble went over for a try, converted by Ed Morgan.

They were then on the point of scoring a second but a loose pass was intercepted, the Welsh wing sped 75 metres up the touchline and only a heroic chase and tackle by centre Henry Peuble, supported by wing Brad Pinkham, prevented a certain try. Dons were then denied one by the referee failing to play advantage and calling them back for a scrum.

Welsh had the better of the closing minutes of the half despite Wimbledon’s dominance at the set scrum and the lineout, where Scoble’s accurate throwing-in helped jumpers Jack Cooke and Jake Cleet to secure possession.

First, the Welsh 10 converted an easy penalty, then on 25 minutes they broke out of their own 22 and two passes later their wing was in at the corner – a well struck conversion giving them a 7-10 lead, soon increasing to 7-13 through a second soft penalty.

Morgan reduced the deficit to 10-13 with a penalty of his own and just before half time, after a series of attacks on the Welsh line, quick ruck ball went to Morgan, who sliced through to score under the posts. His conversion regained Dons’ lead, but only for a minute, before the Welsh wing broke from his 10-metre line to sprint unhindered to score and give his team a half-time lead of 17-18.

The second half saw possession going back and forth, much like the first, but this time the Dons managed to contain the Welsh breakouts and prevent further scores – although a great cover tackle by full-back Ally Duddell denied them.

Fifteen minutes after the restart a great chase by Cooke after a nice kick ahead by Morgan was rewarded with a kindly bounce and he was in for try number three, Morgan’s conversion came off the post so the lead remained perilously narrow at 22-18.

But with just over 10 minutes remaining, great work by the forwards winning a series of penalties and five-metre lineouts saw them drive over the Welsh line for flanker Jake Farnworth to touch down, and earn the try bonus point. Morgan made no mistake with the conversion and Wimbledon held on to their 11-point lead until the whistle.

Wimbledon travel to Royal Wootton Bassett on Saturday for a first-ever meeting between the two clubs.