Sat 30 Oct 2021
Wallingford made the short trip up the A34 to play Gosford All Blacks on a blustery Saturday afternoon.
In selection, Wallingford were without the influential Nathan Chapman and Dan Sadler, but were able to welcome back Tom Swainston for another retirement match.
The day started badly for the visitors when their premier prop Lawson Dallimore pulled up in the warm-up, resulting in a re-shuffle in the pack.
Despite this setback, Wallingford started the game brightly, and soon scored, following some good link up play in midfield between Searle and Smith had put Tom Cerullo in space, and he raced 40m before feeding centre partner Sam Botting who finished well. Conversion missed.
Straight from the re-start, a Gosford All Black forward badly injured his shoulder trying to tackle Searle receiving kick off, and after nearly a 15 delay, play was moved onto an adjacent pitch.
The delay signalled a shift in momentum, as Wallingford began to self-destruct. They had several chances to extend their lead from rolling mauls, but just as they seemed to be approaching the line, something went awry, legally or not, and each chance was spurned.
Then followed a period where the referee seemed to allow Gosford to do whatever they pleased at the breakdown, as they repeatedly disrupted Wallingford ball in prime attacking positions, much to the frustration of the visitors.
And as Wallingford began to lose their composure, the hosts began to find theirs, as they entered their purple patch in the match. A mixture of hard running, clever kicks, and disorganised Wallingford defence saw them score three converted tries as Wallingford hit the self-destruct button.
To make things worse, they also lost their other premier prop Craig Irwin to a nasty dislocated finger, and an nightmare 30 minutes came to a close with the half time whistle, with Gosford 21-5 up.
The second half saw Wallingford come back strongly, as the likes of Jeffreys, Carl Tappin and James Norris led the forwards charge, whilst Cerullo and Botting showed their class as they made numerous breaks in midfield.
The fightback began with a classic James Norris 1 yard finish, before Cerullo and Botting linked up well for the latter to finish as the lead was cut to 6 points.
By this point, the hosts were falling foul of the ref and lost two men to the bin, as Wallingford continued to threaten, and it wasn’t long before they took the lead, with Tom Swainston darting over off the back of a maul for what was the only converted try for the visitors.
Just as it looked like the visitors had got out of jail, a mistake at the restart allowed Gosford an attacking platform which culminated in a well struck penalty from the impressive Gosford kicker.
Wallingford came back again, and what looked like the decisive score came from Norris who finished well on the right to give the visitors the lead again, even with the conversion from out wide drifting agonisingly wide of the post.
But Gosford, whose squat, powerful runners caused problems all day to Wallingford, came back again and an infringement at the breakdown gave the Gosford kicker the opportunity to level things up, and he didn’t miss out.
With a few minutes left, both teams had half chances to sneak the win, but ultimately the game ended in a draw – probably a fair result all things considered.
As some of the post-match photos showed, although they picked up 3 points, the Wallingford players came off the pitch feeling like it was a loss, given how poorly they played at times.
But given the context of recent coaching departures, an ever-growing injury list, and the disruptions before and during the game, coming back from a 16 point deficit was a no mean feat.
And credit to Gosford, coming off the back of a heavy loss and without their influential fly-half, they played some simple, effective rugby and took their chances well.
