No team finds a visit to Gosport easy and so it proved on Saturday for Wimbledon, playing with a strong wind in the first half there was an immediate knock-on and the Gosport pack were able to show their strength and size in the scrum. But there was a side-entry to a maul from Gosport, something the referee penalised both sides frequently all through the match, Wimbledon kicked to the corner and the resulting line-out led to a try under the posts for Wimbledon hooker Eoin Mullen on five minutes. Wimbledon captain Neil Hallett made no mistake with the conversion and Wimbledon continued to pin Gosport in their own half for most of the first half.
A long raking kick to the 22m line saw Gosport go off their feet in a ruck and on 18 minutes Hallett added the penalty. Gosport’s scrum was on top for most of the match but errors by their backs in midfield, something that Wimbledon also were guilty of, led to a tight game of attrition.
Gosport eventually got out of their own half, forced a penalty after a ruck that earned Wimbledon a yellow card and Gosport’s wing Tom Lewis’ kick made the three points in off the post. A second penalty for Gosport at a scrum led to Lewis making it 10 – 6 only for Hallett near to half time extending the lead to 13 – 6 after another penalty against the home team.
Neither team’s hookers found the strong wind easy to handle at the line out but with Wimbledon’s Tait brothers and lock Shawn Renwick making massive efforts in both line-outs and loose play Wimbledon started to take the steam out of the Gosport pack in the second half. But the home team forced a line-out to the corner and got the ball over the Wimbledon line, but were unable to ground it. A second effort a few minutes later was successful, Gosport scored the try by their entire pack through their powerful no.8 Chris Thompson. Lewis made the conversion and with a score at 13 – 13 both sides had all to play for.

After 68 min Wimbledon were able to score as their quick passing and variation of play got full back Rhys Morgan on the right wing free with wing Josh Charles still outside him. After recycling the ball a couple of times the try was scored by Shawn Renwick and an excellent conversion into the wind from Hallett took the score to 20 – 13 where it remained to the end. Several injury breaks did not lead to a smooth game and it took to 70 minutes before the game started to break up with Wimbledon’s fitness leading at the end to breaks from flanker Chris Lewis, outside half Bryan Croke and wings Kieran Morris and Rhys Morgan, but handling errors led to try scoring opportunities being wasted.

The League now takes a break next week until 21st March when Wimbledon will be at home to Sutton & Epsom in a very important match as the season reaches its climax, with a 2.30pm kick-off.