Wimbledon 61 - Hove 12

Match Report: Wimbledon 61 – Hove 12
Two players stole the limelight (read on for their identities) in this one-sided victory which was played on a heavy pitch which the ground staff and volunteers had worked hard to protect from flooding earlier in the week. All credit to them, as for a mid-January pitch, it was nigh-on perfect. With Hove struggling in the league, Wimbledon’s nine try defeat of them was not unexpected, the manner of it, however, was.
Wimbledon’s first half tries came on 9, 19, 24 and 28 minutes to secure the bonus point. The fourth try was a beauty, with slick handling from Rhys Morgan, Pete Scott, Neil Hallett and finally to Campbell Tait to score under the posts completing the move that had started inside Wimbledon’s half. With the conversions of all four tries the score read 28 – 0 at halftime.
Then at the start of the second half Wimbledon effectively went to sleep, losing their shape and lacking effort. Unfortunately for them, Hove did not realise this too quickly but when they did, after 10 minutes they scored the first of two tries of their own through scrum half James Finalson under the posts from a scrum on the Wimbledon 10m line. Six minutes later lock Brian Harrison found himself alone on the left wing with the ball and scored wide out. Centre Sam Whiting converted the first of these 2 tries. Hove No.8 Aaron Beasley was prominent throughout the match but overall Hove found Wimbledon’s pace and fitness too much for them. After 64 minutes some motivation from the Skipper made Wimbledon wake up and they finished the match in style with five further tries, four of them converted.
Earlier some strong bursts from locks Shawn Renwick and Campbell Tait and heavy scrummaging from replacement prop Lorne Ward had made the Hove scrum feel the pressure. Also welcome for Wimbledon was the return after a long absence of Jamie Doubleday to the field near the end.
By the way, flanker Steve May with four, and outside half Bryan Croke with three tries were the attention grabbers and the speedy wings Pete Scott and Rhys Morgan hardly saw any ball at all and had only limited chances to show their skills. The other tries came from Tait in the first half and finally in injury time replacement hooker Eoin Mullen scored wide out on the left. Skipper Neil Hallett converted the first eight only missing with his last attempt….. which hit the post!
The League now takes a break next week until 31st January when Wimbledon will be away to Cobham with a 2.15pm kick-off.