Shelford 6 - Wimbledon 62

Shelford 6 - Wimbledon 62

On Saturday Wimbledon travelled away to the south of Cambridge to face Shelford on their 3G artificial pitch. The result was an emphatic nine tries scored and none conceded.

By their own admission Shelford are in an injury crisis and had at least one seventeen-year old in their team however Wimbledon gave an all-round team performance with mastery in all phases of the game that would have beaten many better sides. In a match of few scrums Wimbledon dominated and Shelford found themselves retreating rapidly more than once. After eight minutes fullback Ben Hough started the scoring with his deft kick through and following-up no.8 Kane Alboni scored under the posts. Centre Freddie Hopper took the first of his seven conversions, Shelford soon replied with a penalty for Wimbledon not rolling away in a tackle. Hopper replied in turn with Wimbledon’s only penalty goal attempt of the match. The second try was again Alboni after a line-out was stolen and prop Jordan Saunders took the ball to the line. The third try came on 22 minutes following a retreating Shelford scrum, Alboni and Hopper once again. On the stroke of half-time Shelford, on a rare visit to the Wimbledon half, took points with their second penalty gaol to make the halftime score 24 – 6.

The second half was all Wimbledon, tries came on 46, 56, 64, 74, 80 and finally when the home team were praying for the final whistle, 82 minutes. One command was heard in this time from captain Chris York that there should be no tries conceded. The first try was from hooker Bradley Ugodulunwa who squeezed under all the defenders to touch down near the posts. This was after a driving maul of more than 30 metres with the ball under firm control throughout. The second came from right wing Phil Chesters who also got the final try in injury time. The next was the result of a penalty kicked to the corner for a lineout, from this Chris York plunged over. Around the 60 minutes mark Wimbledon sent on their three bench players after Ugoduluwa had scored his second, an injury to Hopper meant that kicking duties were passed to outside half Will Taylor who was unable to match his tactical kicking with his place kicking. But by this time a shocked home team were praying for the match to finish. Another try, the eighth came on 80 minutes from flanker Ted Lee, the conversion attempt was missed. The final Wimbledon try in injury time was a gem, a long kick through was chased by wing Kieran Morris followed closely by Hopper, passing to centre Toby White and finally to Chesters who touched down. The move had been from about 70 metres but Taylor’s conversion went wide.

Next Saturday Wimbledon will be at home to Civil Service 1863 with a 3.00pm kick-off.