Whits Warling To London Life! 22-14 Win

WOW! Great to back and reporting on the fall and rises of Reginald Perrin, otherwise known as Old Whits RFC. A week late due to a South European local rugby media conference that overran, I've suffered a little amnesia but all back to normal now!

Whits, devasted by last week#s final-minute defeat to Teddington RFC in their first London league game in twenty years were looking to start the home season as the last one finished! (see last year’s write-ups!)

Warlingham RFC came to the Croham Road fortress with the title of the Croydon’s best team and they meant business with an entourage similar to Floyd Mayweather Jnr! The large support from both sides had their twenties out for this pay per view event.

The game kicked off and we were underway on a beautiful autumn Saturday. Andrew Marshall now one of the senior statesmen of the team looked around him to see few familiar faces in the back line but this did not deter the Yoda like figure at ten as he distributed early to Fergus Donnelly, one of the many former Whitgiftian Junior rugby players the club has been developing. The young centre immediately crashed with barbarity into his opposite centres, giving them an early indicator of what they would be dealing with.

The phases past and Warlingham, in their Argentinian style kit, were building momentum down the slope. With their large pack attacking the breakdown and the areas surrounding. Whits held strong and another former youth member making his debut season for the firsts, Fred Hoskins, starting flying into the Warlingham heavy runners like a sub harpoon missile flying into the ARA General Belgrano! Down they went!

Twenty minutes of pressure and Warlingham could not cross the Whits defensive line. Finally Whits got some ball and looked the much more dangerous side in possession. From a scrum on the Whits twenty-two Alex Smith at number 8 used his wiry sniping skills and fed the resentful Matthew Clark at nine. Clark released another young whipper at fullback down the blind who ghosted down to the halfway almost untouched until the Warl fullback made a crucial tackle. Alex Emeni and fellow Serbian veteran Charlie Petschi cleared the ruck emphatically, quick ball ensued and Marshall, now looking left, found his runners galloping down the slope. First Fergus went through linking simply with his centre partner and then the pill found its way to the former Japenese Royal families sioux chef who sliced through the defence and scored a trademark diving salmon finish. Somethings, however, don't change and Marshall missed the conversion.

Buoyed by this dominance in attack and reliability in defence, Whits started to build confidence in their structure and game plan and took the game to their local rivals. Play after play the pace was picked up, ball retention improved. Graham Johnson, returned from filming in Sweden to carry out his back row duties, and the returning Skipper Hipsey cleared everything off the plate for Clark. Clark hit Chris Hall from the breakdown. The hooker, who looked well rested from the summer and was putting on a polarising display around the park, gained large yards. Another quick clear out and Clark slipped through the gap left at the breakdown to give Whits a 12-0 lead at the half.

The Second half started very much to the way it ended, Whits controlling the ball and the game. The only way Warlingham could stop the train from rolling was to draw cynical penalties. From one such penalty, the Whits line out was so straight it wasn't PC, much to the annoyance of the travelling fans. A sloppy pass in the midfield only caused more problems for Warlingham's defence and new boy Jamie Taylor at fullback went round the outside for Whits’s third of the afternoon. 17-0.

The Gambian like sun was beating down hard and making it exhausting work for the big men of both packs. Luca Criscuolo had been working on his cardio over the offseason, but it was his strength at the scrum and with the ball in hand that caught the eye. Alex Petschi even quoted saying on the sideline "Luca reminds me of a young Bill Cavubati". As Whits turned over the Warlingham Scrum, Smith with the delight of the free play, tippy-toed around the defence making more crucial yards for the home team. Clark telepathically hit Marshall and the standoff whipped the ball to the fullback for his second and Whit's 2nd four-try bonus points in two games.

Twenty-two minutes to play and twenty two - nil to the Whits. The crowd were hoping for something to let Warlingham into the game and give an exciting finish. Whits obliged. A knock on in the centre of the pitch bounced away from any of the home teams players and fell straight into the hands of the Warlingham flyhalf to run under the post with no one in sight to make a covering tackle. 22-7

As the game went into the last ten minutes, Warlingham started to sniff a chance they could salvage something from the game. Getting more possession, they started to build the pressure on the Whit's 22. Eventually, after some solid defence, the Warlingham winger pulled out some magic feet and seemed to avoid 3 tacklers on close quarters to score a fine individual effort. 22-14

Eight points required in the last five meant for some calm heads and there is no one calmer than Barny "Rumble" Hoskins. The raver automatically started moon dancing in the scrum and making a nuisance of himself. The clock ticked down, and phase after phase Whits controlled the last 5 minutes, the same they had controlled the whole of the match. A famous win to get the season rolling for the Jazzers.

Whits travel to sailor country next week to take on one of the Pompy team in this league! 3pm KO. Travelling fans please contact Sam Barke for details.