Walden got back to winning ways at Ruislip in an enthralling game that ebbed and flowed as both teams played some good entertaining Rugby on a fine dry afternoon.
Walden kicked off and second row Keith Thornicroft leapt and plucked the ball out of the air and the visitors proceeded to dominate the first 5 minutes, but when possession was finally turned over as the ball went loose the Ruislip left winger was quickly on to it and sensing Walden defenders were out of position scythed through a gap, once he'd broken the first line there was no cover and he was under the posts to go 7 points up.
Then 8 mins later Walden once again decided to make things difficult for themselves and after a couple of penalties and a Yellow Card for a deliberate knock on the home team subsequently powered over with a driving maul to increase the lead 14 – 0 after 13 mins.
Walden gradually regrouped with the pack doing well in the scrums perhaps being down to 14 focused the minds on the job in hand.
Once Walden were restored to 15 they had much the best of the last 20 minutes of the half. Full back Tom Price narrowed the gap when Tom Hughes chipped through and he beat the covering defence to score a well worked try wide out. 14 – 5. 23 mins.
Ruislip restarted with a kick deep into the Walden half but instead of just clearing their lines Walden’s fly half spotted that Ruislip had left the narrow side exposed and a couple of passes saw left winger Matt McClagan sprint down the touch line for 80 metres and score under the posts and Walden were back in the game 14 -12. 25 mins.
Then with 6 minutes of the half remaining McClagan scored his second when a break by Scrum Half Paul Marshall split the defence and with a two on one he passed to the winger to put Walden ahead at half time 19 – 14.
Somehow Walden yet again did not start the second half well and Ruislip managed to regain possession and broke through to score under the posts to regain the lead 21 – 19. Then when they scored another to get the bonus point it looked ominous for Walden as they stretched the lead to 26 – 19. A further penalty put them ahead by 2 scores 29 -19 and with Walden getting the wrong end of the decisions they had 2 players binned. With two props out, 1 already off due to a neck injury the Scrums had to go uncontested but Walden were reduced to 12 men. But now the pace of the game changed as Walden realised the best form of defence was attack and they started running the ball deep out of defence. Suddenly this looked like the team and game plan from last year and they ran Ruislip ragged in the last 20 minutes. First fly Half Tom Hughes returning after 4 games out with ankle ligament injury scored under the posts. 29 – 26 63 mins.
Now restored to 15 and competitive scrums it was fitting that the last two tries were scored by the pack albeit in fine open running rugby when first winger turned flanker Ben Stapleton showed his pace as he received the ball on the half way line and simply ran round the covering defence putting walden ahead 33 – 29.
Then substitute prop Josh Harris supporting a fine break on the outside by the backs showed a good turn of speed as he received the final ball and scampered under the posts to seal the win 40 - 29. With only three minutes remaining on the clock Walden defended well and the final whistle blew.
Good to get the 5 points for a hard fought bonus point win, but Walden will know they must stop shipping points at the start of the halves. They showed what they can do and with a week off can work hard making sure they switch on quicker and show a bit more discipline.
But all in all a great team performance with Man of the Match going jointly to Ben Stapleton and Keith Thornicroft.