Wimborne RFC

Good teams learn to adapt; so it was as Wimborne returned to Leigh Park late on Saturday evening, another bonus point win secured - but Twickenham had provided an almighty test.

As coach, Dylan Lloyd reflected: “The big take away from Saturday's tight encounter with Twickenham is that they made life difficult in nearly every area of the pitch.

“The last few weeks have seen Wimborne exert control early on in games allowing for an expansive, fast off-load game. Twickenham did not allow us this luxury - they met us physically and their defence worked hard to stop our momentum. This in turn forced errors and created frustration.

“We never quite felt in control”, he added.

Wimborne made the journey up the M3 shorn of several senior members of their pack, but it is testament to the depth of the ‘playing pool’ at the club this season, that optimism levels were still extremely high.

Twickenham began the match on the front foot, a flurry of penalties giving them regular access into the Wimborne 22. From one such incursion, a lineout 5 metres out was mauled effectively by their impressive pack and deservedly resulted in the first try of the afternoon.

In these early exchanges, the strong running Twickenham outfit, with their numbers 8 and 12 prominent, were asking significant questions of the Wimborne defence, previously unseen this campaign.

Gradually, the away side gained more composure, and possession, with Harry Duffield, James Houghton and the returning Tim Ellis making significant inroads into the home rearguard.

Fly-half, Tom Moysey was again ‘conducting the orchestra’ behind and before the break he created two sumptuous tries for flyers Jack Adams and Flynn Drummond.

Moysey really is relishing the opportunities to unleash his extremely talented outside backs this term, and his blossoming relationship with half back partner Jamie O’Shea creates real potency in attack.

Wimborne’s back division have scored an impressive 23 tries in the first 4 matches of the season and Drummond grabbed his second of the game when he and fellow winger, Maverick Goodchild, combined wonderfully to send the young tyro over next to the posts.

Still Twickenham refused to buckle and despite a further Wimborne score for hard-working hooker Louis Allum, the home side went over late on to leave the final score 14-24 in Wimborne’s favour.

Afterwards, coach Lloyd summed up the afternoon’s work: “As we have seen all season, we do not give up points that easily and like the trip to Havant, this proved crucial.

“Twickenham will really challenge teams - particularly here - so this away win should not be underestimated. It was hard fought, and in the end, probably deserved.”

Fellow coach Tom Roberts was similarly philosophical, “It was great to come away from Twickenham with 5 points…the performance was OK, we created opportunities but at times our decision making and execution were not quite ‘on point’.

“However, these are the high bars we set ourselves and overall, we are happy with the win and indeed our start to this season”.

Final Score: Twickenham 1st XV 14 – 24 Wimborne 1st XV

Tries: Drummond x2, Adams, Allum

Cons: Fenton x2

POM: Rhys Gosling and Harry Duffield