Match report – 21 March 2010
Cobham U17B vs Wimbledon U17A League 2
On a very warm and sunny day, on a pitch that showed not a single blade of grass, before a whistle was blown or a boot put to ball, a wise owl in the Cobham camp took one look at the referee and predicted that he’d have a meticulous attention to detail.
And so it was.
In the opening minutes, a couple of missed tackles almost led to a try for Wimbledon, but their player lost the ball forward as he crossed the line. Cobham backed their running game to get out of trouble and withstand Wimbledon pressure.
From the first Cobham set-piece – a lineout – the ball was tapped back by Dominic Smith and Max Peacock scored after a typical flowing move from the backs
The conversion was unsuccessful and the score 5-0
Wimbledon attacked from the restart and Cobham gave away a penalty immediately in front of the posts. However Wimbledon were unable to convert the opportunity into points and the score stayed at 5-0.
Discipline in the Cobham ranks had not been high, and the referee had awarded a number of penalties and free kicks against Cobham. At this point, the eloquence, force of character and self-confidence of our sons - that we are all proud of as parents – started to irritate the referee and he had to speak to the Cobham captain about discipline and back-chat.
Nothing deterred, however, Cobham maintained their ambition in counter-attacks and after a very fluent right/left, left/right move by the backs Richard Phillip scored and Paddy Williams converted to make the score 12-0.
Wimbledon played their full part in an open and entertaining game, but did themselves no favours on occasion. An over-elaborate passing move, or a dummied throw-in at the line-out, lost them field position and meant that the score remained 12-0 at half time.
The second half started with harum-scarum stuff from both sides, and an excellent steal from a Wimbledon scrum saw Henry Swindell score in the corner to make it 17-0.
It seemed that Wimbledon were robbed of a try when they were called back for a penalty against Cobham when the Wimbledon player was almost over the line. However, they did get the try they deserved a few minutes later, and converted it to make the scoreline 17-7.
Cobham scored again, through Max Peacock, followed by another unconverted try for Wimbledon to make it 22-12.
The match ended with a flourish by Cobham. After an excellent restart and chase by Cobham, Wimbledon found themselves with s scrum on their 5 metre line. They won the scrum but Max Peacock charged down the clearance kick. Cobham turned the ball over and a neat chip and gather from Paddy Williams made the score 27-12.
That’s where it ended. It was an excellent team performance – 5 tries and 5 points to keep the team in the hunt for honours in League 2, with two games to go.
