Old Walcountians 5
Old Whitgiftians 50

Old Whitgiftians went to the top of the table after a comprehensive victory over Old Walcountians.

The match promised to be a tight encounter and initially there was little to chose between them.

The Old Walcountians, playing down the hill with the wind and the sun behind them, began well, taking full advantage of the conditions, and kept the Old Whitgiftians pegged down in their own half.

However, after the initial Old Walcountian assault, the Old Whitgftians, with their forwards rampaging, began to take control.

Their backs made good headway, prompted by swift and accurate passing from scrum half Tom Maynard, and a try was scored from a forward drive following a line out, with Mike Goodbody getting the touch down.

Old Walcountians attacked whenever they had the opportunity and it was only stout defending by the visiting side that kept them at bay.

Then a break by Barrett Bloxham, followed by several well timed passes, led to an Old Whitgiftian try scored by right wing Quintin Keanie The Old Walcountians then missed two kickable penalties to leave the half-time score at 10-0.

The second half was a different story. The Old Whitgiftians forwards were probing and driving and a surging run by Mike Grant led to a well taken try by Aaron Keelty.

From then on the Old Whitgiftian team played with great confidence and awareness. Significant breaks were made by all the backs, and because there were always forwards backing up, the Old Walcountian defence was eventually overwhelmed. Five further tries were scored by Bloxham (2), Marshall (2) and Maynard, usually after handling movements involving both backs and forwards. Les Todd, who had a relatively quiet game at full back, slotted the conversions. However the Old Walcountians never gave up and took advantage of a rare defensive lapse to score an unconverted try.

As pack leader Mike Grant said afterwards, the Old Whitgiftian players are beginning to know each other's game and it was a great team performance which eventually produced a 50-5 victory for the Old Whitgiftians which took them to the top of the league.