Wimbledon 34 – 3 Haywards Heath

Wimbledon returned to winning ways with a very satisfactory victory over Haywards Heath, despite fielding a much-changed pack with a back five comprising five flankers. This posed a few problems for Dons in the set scrum – although the front row of Wallace, Mullen (rep. Roberts) and Nanai compensated admirably – and the lack of a recognised jumper gave Heath the edge in the lineout.

But after a slow start, during which Heath went ahead with a penalty for offside, Dons still managed to win enough ball to boss the game and score five good tries, three of which captain Neil Hallett converted, along with a penalty on the stroke of half time.

Stalwart defence by the visitors had kept Dons out for 25 minutes when, after Wallace was held up a metre short, Hallett got quick ball from the ensuing ruck to score under the posts. With no.10 Brian Croke having an increasing influence on the game the Dons backs started to threaten Heath’s line, but it was prop Wallace who scored try no. 2, barging over from a quick 5m tap penalty.

Starting the second half a healthy 17-3 ahead, there were several near misses by Wimbledon before fullback Tommy Moore – who had another fine all round game –
Took a great pass from Hallett to sprint over the line and score. On the half hour wing Pete Scott raced in for try no.4, after twice being tackled just a metre out.

Battling well against the persistently offside Heath flanker, scrum half Rhys Morgan set in motion another flowing backs move rounded off with a well taken try by flanker Jamie Doubleday to bring up the final score with five minutes remaining.

Next week’s fixture, away to Sidcup, will be a little tougher.