Nov 12 - LNE3 Campion (H)

W 29 - 11  Report attached

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Wymondham consigned Campion to the bottom of the League with what turned out to be a comprehensive victory over their Essex opponents by 29 points to 11.

As has been usual this season, however, the home team kept their supporters on edge until the last quarter of the game before they established an unassailable lead.

On a mild, misty, day with barely a breath of wind, Wymondham kicked off with the club house at their backs and without influential players Sokia and Martin who were side-lined by injury. An encouraging start saw pressure applied to the Campion defence before, after 4 minutes, the referee ruled that a marauding home player had not entered the ruck from behind the back foot and gave an eminently kickable penalty to the Essex side. The Campion kicker duly slotted the ball through the posts to leave Wymondham 0-3 down.

Campion then put together some good moves in their backs and began to look threatening with their rangy right winger eluding the Wymondham defence on several occasions. On 12 minutes, Campion looked certain to score from a break down the left wing but Hodgson put in a fine tackle to deny the opportunity.

Wymondham were dominating the set scrums and, on 20 minutes, the Campion scrum-half found himself offside attempting to disrupt Wymondham possession from the set piece. James Wyatt gratefully accepted the chance to level the scores.

Just one minute later, Campion regained the lead when the home side were judged guilty of obstruction in midfield right in front of the posts.

Wymondham escaped further punishment when, on 24 minutes, the Campion kicker missed a penalty when the Red and Blacks went off their feet in a ruck.

Fijian debutant Simo was called into action in the centre in the 26^th minute as a blood replacement when acting captain, Barry O’Sullivan, had to leave the field for treatment for a facial injury. Simo it was who won a penalty when his quick feet deceived the opposition and drew a high tackle. Unfortunately, Wyatt hit the post and the ball fell safely into Campion arms.

As the half was coming to an end, Wymondham suffered a piece of bad luck when they charged down a Campion kick, only for the ball to rebound to an opposition player who found himself in the clear and ran through to score. The conversion was missed to leave Campion 11-3 up at the break.

Wymondham started the second half with renewed vigour and began to put together some good phases. It was no surprise when, 8 minutes into the half, Wymondham fielded a defensive kick and flanker Soul Phoenix, who was prominent throughout the match, linked beautifully with centre Tom Wilson who, despite having been indisposed all week, finished a strong run by touching down for a try. Wyatt duly converted to leave Wymondham just one point behind at 10-11.

With 12 minutes of the half gone, Wyatt then constructed a superb individual try. Campion were penalised out wide on the half-way line for not releasing the ball in the tackle. With lightning quick reactions, Wyatt took the tap and charged down the wing. A perfectly judged chip over the cover defence saw him touch down over the try line before gratefully accepting the extra points for the conversion to put his side ahead by 17-11.

Wymondham now had the bit between their teeth and, just 4 minutes later, when the away team touched down a Wymondham kick-ahead for a 22 metre drop out, muscular young Number 8, David Blake, caught the ball one-handed from the Campion kick and proceeded to plough through the entire Campion defence to put Wymondham 22-11 up with Wyatt again adding the extras to stretch the lead to 24-11.

With the game drawing to a close, the home coaches were now exhorting their side to score the extra try for a bonus point and, in a sparkling move, the backs responded by moving the ball from one side of the field to the other to give the hard working and speedy winger, Alex Brugger, the opportunity to break three tackles and score a try wide out on the left wing which sealed the bonus point and was to be the final act of a game which proved extremely entertaining for the large crowd.