L  17 - 18 Report Attached

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Wymondham 17,

Wanstead 18

Although not mathematically certain of relegation, this last gasp defeat to a Wanstead side who had looked beaten with ten minutes left to play, leaves Wymondham needing to pick up maximum points from an away game at Stowmarket who are chasing a play-off spot; even then, results elsewhere will need to go Wymondham’s way to grant an unlikely last-minute reprieve to the Red and Blacks.

The match started well for Wymondham, who were playing into the teeth of a bitter Northerly wind, with early glimpses of form from their potent back line who had at last all recovered from injury. Conversely, the home side were struggling in the set scrum without a recognised hooker, against a powerful and well-drilled Wanstead eight.

The first score came from Wymondham with only seven minutes gone when they broke out of their own twenty-two metre zone with the referee playing a penalty advantage to them and delightful interplay between the two Fijian centres, Simo and Sokia, saw Simo dot down under the posts for a try converted by Wyatt. 7-0 to Wymondham.

The pattern of the game was set early with Wymondham trying to keep the ball in hand to make use of their backs while Wanstead were making the most of their scrum dominance and choosing the scrum option when awarded penalties anywhere near the Wymondham line.

With ten minutes gone Wymondham had a lucky escape when a series of penalties were scrummaged by Wanstead, inching ever closer to the home try line before the referee adjudged the Wanstead prop to be boring in and gave Wymondham a penalty and the opportunity of a relieving kick.

Opportunities were being created by both sides but the strong wind was creating handling difficulties and on twenty minutes Wanstead were unlucky when, with an overlap on the wing and the Wymondham line in sight, a pass was caught by the wind and nudged forward.

Having failed to cross the home line, when Wanstead were awarded yet another penalty at a set scrum on the Wymondham 22 metre line, they opted to put points on the board and slotted it between the posts to make it 7-3 to Wymondham.

With around half an hour played, Wymondham put intense pressure on the Wanstead line forcing the Herons to concede a series of penalties for transgressions at the breakdown. Eventually, captain Pena Sokia, called on Wyatt to slot another penalty and extend the Wymondham lead to 10-3.

Wymondham maintained the pressure from the re-start and forced Wanstead to defend deep in their own half but the Red and Blacks were unable to add to their points tally.

Wanstead did not lie down however and, following a good spell of pressure, their forwards drove

on and crashed over the line in their left wing position. Unfortunately for the Wanstead kicker, the ball blew off the tee as he came to kick the conversion so the score remained at 10-8 to Wymondham as the first half came to an end.

Wymondham would have felt satisfied at the break to be leading whilst playing against such a strong wind and, despite struggling in the scrum, Wanstead had been given very few scoring opportunities with few, if any, missed tackles.

The second half started with some loose play from both sides with, Man of the Match, Josh Wright narrowly failing to gather the ball twice from interceptions with the Wanstead line open in front of him.

With 50 minutes played, Dodds was replaced at full-back by Stephen Simms.

Another barrelling run by Wright was stopped just short of the try line and a panicky hacked clearance gave Wymondham a 5 metre line-out to continue to press for another score. Wymondham continued to pile on the pressure and had the vast majority of possession and territory as the game moved towards the hour mark without being able to add to their lead.

A gilt edged opportunity to add to the score went begging when, from a scrum, the ball was shipped to Sokia who, unfortunately, dropped it over the try line.

Wanstead lost a man to the sin bin when the onrushing Wymondham kicker was judged to have been impeded in his chase.

Wymondham must have thought they had sealed the victory when, with 15 minutes to go, Wright again picked up a loose ball on the half-way line and charged towards the Wanstead line. With Brugger alongside him, Wright drew the defence and slipped it to the jet-heeled winger who sped away to cross the whitewash under the posts. Wyatt picked up the extra two points to leave the score at 17-8 to the home side.

The joy was to be short-lived however as Wanstead, stung into action by the score, played to their strengths and set up a series of forward drives culminating in a converted try to leave the game on a knife edge at 17-15.

With time up, Wanstead won a penalty for offside on the Wymondham 22 metre line and, after what seemed an inordinate length of time, the Wanstead kicker struck the ball cleanly between the posts to clinch the match by a single point and leave Wymondham in despair as, yet again, they were beaten in the last play.

Whatever the final outcome of this campaign, Wymondham will take heart from the skill and spirit shown in this game and will believe that with a bit of luck on the injury front, they have the players to bounce back from the disappointments of this season.

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Preview

Wymondham go into their last two matches knowing that they must win both to be in with a chance of avoiding the drop to the Eastern Counties Leagues.

The first of these vital matches sees them take on a Wanstead side that will be buoyed by their win against table toppers Holt last week. Wanstead are sitting in a comfortable mid-table position and will be able to play in a relaxed style with no pressure on them. In the reverse fixture in December, Wanstead ran out comfortable winners by 37-7.

Fortunately, the Red and Blacks have players fit again following injury and a new-look front row sees Nigel Brown returning to prop with the ever-reliable Dane Canning moving across to hook alongside Lee Summers.

Student Phil Johnson is available once more and partners Josh wright in the second row with
Turner, Blake and O’Sullivan completing the forward line up.

In the backs, Simo has recovered from injury and plays at centre alongside Captain Pena Sokia with James Wyatt resuming at scrum-half and Dodd moving to full-back.

A strong looking bench features Vincent, Simms and Mickelburgh.

President, Chris Williams, was looking for a strong performance from his team who he hopes will be backed by a large crowd seeking to roar the Red and Blacks to possible safety.

On Sunday, the Wymondham Under 17 team is playing in the Divisional Final of the RFU Bowl at the Cambridge University ground with victory leading to a possible appearance in the National Finals to be held at Worcester Warriors ground.

Wymondham :L Summers, D Canning, N Brown, J Wright, P Johnson, D Blake, A Turner, B O'Sullivan , J Wyatt, T Wilson, R Dodd, , P Sokia (Capt.), A Brugger, Simo, D Martin, K Vincent, J Mickelburgh, S Simms .