Wimbledon 18 Guildford 15

Wimbledon can give a sincere vote of thanks to their captain Neil Hallett for his display of kicking that not only secured victory over Guildford and for his organisation in defence. Less encouraging for the coaching staff was the way that the newly promoted Guildford side were able to gain ascendency in the tight phases of the match leading to their tries. The first came on 7 minutes from a 5m scrum where no.8 Nick Taft was able to score after the pack had pushed Wimbledon over their line and later on 17 minutes he repeated the score from a driving maul. Full back Jarrod Adam converted the second and Guildford were feeling confident.
Wimbledon opened their scoring with Guildford going off their feet in a ruck near the 22m line in front of the posts, Hallett kicked the first points, on 30 minutes Guildford’s front row slipped their binding in the scrum and the score was repeated. Then after a good drive from Guildford Wimbledon’s defences were sound and this completed a lengthy first half of 49 minutes, time stretched by both injuries and advice to the captains from the referee.
At half time Wimbledon introduced former captain Chris Lewis for lock Aiden O’Brien and with some other adjustments the Guildford forwards found themselves being bested in pace round the pitch. Replacement prop Dan Howden also was able to slow down the activities of the Guildford front row who later lost their hooker for a yellow card for careless placement of his feet – stamping.
A fine kick to the Wimbledon right resulted in an attack from right wing Peter Scott, who was forced into touch in the corner. The resulting line out found the Guildford centres offside and Wimbledon took advantage of this with Hallet scoring a further penalty in the 50th minute.
Wimbledon were able to draw the scores level with a further well struck Hallet penalty on 66 minutes. Guildford’s forwards gave their backs very little chance to attack and finally on 78 minutes after side entry to a maul by Guildford, Hallett kicked Wimbledon into the lead with a long range penalty.
At about this time the referee advised the players that a further 7 minutes were to be played and with mounting dread the Wimbledon forwards conceded a penalty about 30m out but Adam’s kick was wide and eventually after a 53 minute second half Wimbledon were able to celebrate victory.
Next week Wimbledon will travel to Hove with a 3pm kick-off.