Twickenham 21- Wimbledon23

A London Two North mid table clash between two teams with identical wins loses and draws was always going to be close, and so it was. Twickenham, for the second week running suffered the loss of a key player within the first ten minutes when centre James Clark left with a cut head.

It was Ts who scored first with a penalty from Phil Astbury in front of the Wimbledon posts. The Wimbledon reply did not come until 25 minutes into the game when their winger scorched in for a try which was duly converted, to be followed 5 minutes later by a penalty .With the score at 3-12 T’s prop Richard Moses had to leave the pitch, to be replaced by Dave Thomas.

T’s captain Chris Tytherleigh, who only two hours before had stepped of a long haul flight from the far east, found himself at the forefront of a driving maul and had the satisfaction of scoring T’s first try, only to see the conversion missed. Wimbledon responded almost immediately with another try run in by the winger, leaving the score at 8-17 at half time.

After the break Twickenham began to exert pressure which produced a try for number 8 Rob Kirby and a conversion by Phil Astbury, to narrow the difference to two points, only to then concede a penalty from the restart. More pressure from Twickenham on the Wimbledon line resulted in another penalty for the home side followed 15minutes later by a Phil Astbury drop goal which gave Ts the advantage at 21-20

Yet again they conceded a penalty from the kick off and were punished by the Wimbledon kicker, 21-23. At this point the Wimbledon number four received a yellow card, the third Wimbledon player to do so in the game, the resulting penalty gave Twickenham the chance for a raking touch kick , a catch and drive from the line out and the victory. In the event they transgressed at the line out allowing Wimbledon to clear their lines, hear the final whistle and claim the two points.

This was a game that the Twickenham players must have known that that had for the taking. It’s not time to panic, there is a long league season ahead, Ts showed determination, skill and flair but better decision making at crucial moments would see them attain their true potential.

Team: R.Moses, ( D.Thomas) C.Tytherleigh, R.Bowler, J.Davies, P.Goff, S.Colquorn, C.I’anson, R.Kirby, A.Rogers, P.Astbury, R.Whittam, J.Clark, (T.Howden), S.Stone, M.Wadde, B. Isherwood.