L 17 - 20

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London South East Bowl Final

Wymondham 17,

Heatfield & Waldron 20

On Sunday the finals of the London South East U17 Cup were being held at Grange Road, Cambridge University’s Rugby ground, and Wymondham were the sole Eastern Counties representatives competing in the Bowl final against Heathfield & Waldron.

The weather was perfect for playing and watching, but after a forgettable first half Wymondham were 0-7 down, ruing three missed penalty attempts. The second half started ominously for the Norfolk side, conceding a second converted try early on, but finally a Wymondham penalty was successful and they were on the scoreboard.

A change in tactics saw Wymondham kick ahead and harry Heathfield & Waldron into making mistakes and this paid dividends with two tries in the left hand corner resulting from pressurising the opposition defence, and two very well taken touchline conversions saw Wymondham take a 17-14 lead. The teams exchanged penalties to make the score 20-17 and the last five minutes of an absorbing second half were played at a furious pace, every player throwing themselves into attack or defence as possession seemed to change hands every other breakdown.

With the seconds ticking away Heathfield & Waldron found a gap in the tiring Wymondham defence and with the last move of the game they went over to score the
 decisive try, the conversion immaterial to the result.