Wimbledon 74 – 0 Shelford

Bottom of the table Shelford may not have provided the toughest opposition, but that
does not detract from an excellent Wimbledon performance, as indicated by the 74-0
scoreline. All eight forwards – who’d never played as a unit before – had a field day,
driving into the opposition and gaining ground each time, before off-loading neatly to
any one of several supporting players. The backs looked like scoring almost every
time they got the ball and just once did Shelford breach their defence, only for Dons’
wing Tom Milner to spoil their moment of glory with a well-anticipated interception
and a sprint the length of the field to score his team’s tenth try, still with seven
minutes remaining.
After a slowish start by Wimbledon, while the players got to know each other, their
first try came 11 minutes in, when prop Jordan Saunders, running a great angle, took a
perfectly timed pass from the base of a ruck by scrum half Ed Askew to crash over the
line. Although play hardly left Shelford’s half it was another 15 minutes before
Saunders got his second try in identical circumstances, Freddie Hooper converting
from out wide. He converted his own try too ten minutes later – this time from the
touch line - after a lovely run and pass by skipper Alex Campbell. Moments later
replacement wing Josh Charles’ well-taken try in the corner, stemming from a good
break by hooker Dave Wayman, took the score to 24-0. Dons squeezed in one more
before half time when, after a dozen or so phases, no.8 Mark Scott reached over the
line from a ruck to touch down for a thoroughly well deserved try. Another fine
conversion from Hooper took the half time score to 31-0.
12 minutes after the re-start prop Bertie Haskins - as ever, closely following play –
was on the spot to pick and dive over for try number six. Wing Phil Chesters showed
his pace to run in number seven and Askew rounded off a lovely handling move by
Scott and Haskins to claim number eight. Hooper’s conversion made it 48-0. Saunders
then completed his hat-trick, this time with a bit of support from the back five to help
him over and make it 53-0. Hooper then converted Milner’s first try (the team’s tenth)
to make it 60-0, as well as Milner’s second following a lovely switch by Chesters to
take it to 67-0. Flanker Joe Dale made the final try look easy by claiming a Shelford
lineout overthrow and barging aside two defenders to take the score over 70. Hooper
did the necessary for the final scoreline.
A very satisfactory day all round, marred only by the injuries to no.10 James Moffat,
prop Saunders and hooker Wayman all of which hopefully will take less recovery
time than those sustained last week by the captain, Josh Bayford, and back row Kane
Alboni.
Next week Dons travel to CS Stags with the aim of avenging the one point defeat at
their hands back in September.