London Irish 60 – Wimbledon 6

London Irish 60 – Wimbledon 6

Wimbledon traveled to London Irish for a 5pm kick-off under floodlights at the request of the home team. The loss of players through injury this season is now having their effect on the strength of the team and this also affects continuity with players not finding the understanding in each other that comes with a settled team. The end result was very disappointing with tries being scored by very fast and straight running Irish backs. But for all that Wimbledon were never dominated in the front row and the scrum achieved parity against the home team pack. Wimbledon were also short of height in the line-out and that and a strong cross wind made the hookers of both teams struggle with their throwing.
Wimbledon scrum half Harry Tabb had a promising match with some sniping runs from the scrum and when allowed, both wings, Josh Charles and Jimmy Stevenson-Wright, as well as fullback Dan Cheers made big dents in the Irish defence. But promising positions near to the Irish line often were spoiled by handling errors and turnovers and more than once by offsides against Wimbledon teammates. The half-time score of 20 – 6 was a fair reflection of the better use London Irish made of their possession, and it took only two more minutes for Irish to secure their try bonus point. From then on it was one-way traffic to the Wimbledon line but with some conversions being missed in the strong cross wind.
Wimbledon’s 2nd team played London Irish Wanderers on an adjacent pitch and conceded late tries to lose 39 – 34.
Next Saturday Wimbledon will at home to Redingensians 1sts and 2nd teams with a 2.30pm kick-off.