Wimbledon win 41-10 at home to Sutton & Epsom in Regional 1 South Central

Sutton & Epsom looked a far better side for much of the match than their lowly league position suggests.

But Wimbledon looked like the league leaders they are and notched up a comfortable 41-10 win over their old rivals, and had the last pass not so often gone astray their winning margin would have been a lot greater. Wimbledon’s set scrum just had the edge until the last quarter and then they dominated every put-in.

Hooker Harry Scoble’s throw-ins to jumpers Jack Cooke and Max Freeman plus lock Chris Dalley and the support of the lifters ensured 100 per cent of their own ball and a fair few of the opposition’s.

The visitors had a good opening five minutes with a series of drives well defended by the Dons on their own line. But the tide soon turned and the Wimbledon forwards drove over for Freeman to touch down. A silly penalty then gave SE’s centre Freddy Bunting an easy three points and it was 5-3.

Despite territorial advantage it took another 10 minutes before Don- scrum half Alex Kerr neatly evaded a tackle five metres out to score in the corner after his blind side break and great support from wing Brad Pinkham. Fly-half Ed Morgan’s conversion from the touchline put his side 12-3 ahead. He added two more points nearing the half hour after right wing Ollie Kitto piled in to a powerful driving maul 15 metres out from SE’s line and secured the ball to score, making it 19-3.

Strong SE defence prevented further scores before half-time, but five minutes after the restart Kitto appeared on the left wing to score his second after quick ball from the pack went swiftly down the line. The 24-3 scoreline soon became 29-3 when prop Malek Touilzak finished off a move he had started with a break on halfway.

Entering the last quarter, a series of penalties for SE took the visitors deep into the Dons’ 22 from which they scored a deserved converted try to make it 29-10.

The last 15 minutes belonged to Wimbledon. A great turnover by the pack on their own 10-metre line led to a classy break by replacement scrum-half Rhys Morgan, taking play into SE’s 22. From the breakdown Kitto raced over for his hat-trick, Morgan’s conversion taking the lead to 39-10. With minutes remaining he added a further five points when he dummied through the defence to score following some nice back play from good ruck ball.

It was another very satisfactory performance from a highly-watchable Wimbledon team – one that keeps them a point clear at the top of the league. This weekend more of the same will be required, away to Bracknell.