Wimbledon 43 Cobham 10

Wimbledon eased into second place in the league with, in the end, a convincing victory over bottom-placed Cobham. But thanks to a gritty performance from their pack the visitors made Dons work for their win and after half an hour the only score on the board was a Neil Hallett penalty. Then a mistake in Cobham’s backline was pounced on by wing Tommy Moore who crossed in the corner to score. Hallett’s fine conversion made it 10-0, soon reduced to 10-3 after a successful conversion by Cobham’s Dave Flower. Then just before half time no.10 Bryan Croke forced an error from his opposite number, prop James Gillespie charged to within spitting distance of the goal line and quick ball to Neil Brown allowed the fullback to crash over for Dons’ second try, again converted by Hallett.

He also converted the next try six minutes into the second half when lock Campbell Tait touched down after a lovely break by wing Josh Charles. Cobham then reduced the deficit to 24-10 after the first and only fluent move by their backs produced a good try for wingman, Johnny Mills, converted by Flower. After that the visitors never looked like adding to their score and the final quarter of the match was all Wimbledon’s. First, the irrepressible flanker Steve May rounded off a good rolling maul from a 5m lineout, grounding the ball near the posts – and Hallett’s conversion was a formality.

The score reached 34-10 with ten minutes remaining, when Charles finished a flowing backs move by rounding his man with ease and touching down in the corner. Hallett’s conversion made it 36 points for the home team. The final score, in the dying minutes of the game, came when Hallett unselfishly passed to supporting flanker Chris Lewis who ran in unopposed. Hallett ended the game with his seventh successful conversion out of eight.

Next week Wimbledon travel to Havant in search of another five point win.