Oct 15 - Nat Cup 1st RND - Finchley (A)

L  41 - 10   Report Attached  

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RFU Senior Vase- 15th October

Finchley 41 v Wymondham 10

Forced into team and positional changes by last minute availability and injury issues, Wymondham could take few positives from their excursion to North London to play the team lying second in their parallel league.

Wymondham again conceded an early try with players standing off and allowing a Finchley back rower to power down the wing and touch down in the corner. In contrast to their last game where an early opposition score proved the spur for a compelling performance, this time, the young Wymondham side looked visibly deflated.

Reverting to old habits, Wymondham put in a poor kick which was gratefully gathered by the Finchley wing who, evading some half-hearted tackles, plunged over the line to double his side’s advantage.

A brief revival on the half-hour mark saw Simms land a penalty to make the score 10-3 after the referee had marched Finchley forward 10 metres for not retreating.

However, with 35 minutes on the clock, Wymondham, having won a defensive scrum on their 5metre line, lost control of the ball in the back row and inexplicably hacked it into the hands of a surprised Finchley forward who shipped it straight to his centre who touched down and left an easy conversion.

Worse was to come as Wymondham almost immediately repeated their earlier mistake, kicked possession away and allowed Finchley to put the ball through half a dozen pairs of hands before scoring a try in the corner.

Wymondham were finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the speedy and powerful back row fielded by Finchley and sorely missed the experience of centres Sokia and O’Sullivan to direct operations and put pressure on their opposite numbers. The scrum was being constantly wheeled by the opposition forwards which meant the half-backs were receiving scrappy ball and coming under immediate pressure leaving Wymondham’s dangerous wingers largely unemployed apart from defensive duties.

Half-time brought some positional changes and replacements and Wymondham did at least partially stem the tide conceding once more on the hour mark before James Wyatt, the young scrum half, coming off the bench, made a typical sniping run from a set scrum and scored under the posts, converting his own try.

This proved to be the last crumb of comfort and Wymondham were by now visibly wilting in the unseasonal sunshine while Finchley were cock- a- hoop, closing out the game by scoring two more tries and one conversion.

Wymondham must now put this game behind them and concentrate on their home game against Sudbury next week hoping that their rested players will return refreshed and eager to make further progress up the League.

John Mackay

RFU Senior Vase- 15th October

Finchley v Wymondham- Preview

Following their emphatic win at home against Upminster last Saturday, Wymondham take a break from league action this weekend with a long trip to play Finchley in the first round of the RFU Senior Vase.

Cup fixtures are always intriguing as they give the players the chance to test themselves against unknown opposition playing at the same level in a different geographical area.

A glance at the London 3 NW table shows that Finchley have made an excellent start to their campaign, winning 4 and losing 1 of their opening 5 matches while also harvesting 4 bonus points- a return that sees them lying second in their league.

Wymondham, on the other hand, have won twice and lost three times and lie just below mid-table in London 3NE. On the face of it, then, this would appear to be a daunting task for the red and blacks but the team is at last beginning to gel and players are settling into the style of play that their coaches have been striving for, with some of the youngsters finally starting to believe in their own ability.

Having broken their home duck and shown the Wymondham faithful what they could do last weekend, morale is very high and the players are looking forward to building on that performance in this cup tie. The coaches rewarded the team for Saturday’s performance by forgoing the normal Tuesday training in favour of a team meal in an Indian restaurant, with the only proviso being that they trained twice as hard on Thursday!

Pena Sokia is given a rest following his injury last week while Nigel Brown returns to the front row and Pat Reed starts for the first time this season having made a cameo appearance from the bench last week. Youngsters Graham-Park and Martin rightly retain their places in the backs following their performances against Upminster.

Directions to Finchley rugby club