Sun 20 Mar 2022, 14:00
A hard fought fixture away to Windsor resulted in a well earned victory for the SDS.
With many players not available and some last minute drop outs, a squad of 16 travelled down to face a full Windsor squad.
After 15 minutes of strong defence by Wallingford, Windsor finally broke through and took the lead with a drive in the corner. Not getting the ref on side led to a series of penalties against the visitors that kept Wallingford hemmed in their own half. Some good exits and strong tackling preventing the opposition from taking the advantage. A “play what you see” approach to rugby eased the pressure with Rubin (a late call up and much needed, thank you) breaking out of his own 22 with only one player to beat, a chip into the opposition 22 with Toby showing his pace, a try looked certain. Sadly, as Toby slowed to gather the ball, the fullback managed to make a textbook tackle that resulted in Toby twisting his ankle and competing with Finlay for “who has the biggest tennis ball in their sock award”!
However, the great break had lifted the side and the momentum shifted to Wallingford. Some great carries by Matt P, Billy and Oscar resulted with Wallingford camped on the opposition try line. Silas, the “leaping salmon” used his go gadget arms and dived over the ruck to even the score. Keeping the pressure up an almost identical opportunity fell to the Leaping salmon again, this time a little closer to the posts and Jack secured the extra 2 points.
5-12 at half time, with the opposition emptying the very large bench, the team demonstrated true resolve. Felix Harris led by example putting in a MOM performance by being ubiquitous around the park and building a tackle count off the scale. With the lineout misfiring in the first half, the forwards got it together and started to dominate the set piece. The defensive line held and everybody dug deep to find new levels of determination and fitness.
With 15 minutes to go, post some good carries and continued effort, Windsor scored again. Missing the conversion, provided a tense final 10 minutes as the pressure built. What possession Wallingford had, they managed to work up the park and Matt broke the line and sprinted (yes props can sprint) towards the posts unopposed. With inches to go, the smallest player on the pitch managed to catch up with him and rip the ball to prevent Matt’s golden moment. Some great forward work in the opposition 22 deserved another score but sadly once again, the ref got the better of the team, and the moment was lost. With 3 minutes to go, the team hung on, and demonstrated the true value of fitness and commitment to close the game down and come home with a well deserved 10-12 victory.
A great performance by every Wally player on the pitch, bring on the next match!
