Not even a roaring log fire in Warlingham's clubhouse was able to raise the spirits of the home supporters after their side was cruelly deprived of four points by some disputed decisions of the referee. The drizzle and gloom on the pitch was matched by the gloom inside as Warlingham's topsy turvey season continues as they were beaten by an unfancied Weybridge Vandals team whose forwards nevertheless took the game to their hosts. The conditions were not conducive to champagne rugby and Vandals' forwards played the 'route one' game driving around the fringes to make ground.
Warlingham eventually secured some decent ball and a clever chip ahead by fly-half Alex Glover was scooped up by lock Neil Robson who crashed over for the first score. As is often the case, Vandals struck back immediately with a penalty in front of the posts.

Warlingham gained some ascendancy with flanker Zack King and No 8 David Thornton making yards up the midfield.
A quickly recycled ball gave Warlingham a three man overlap but an inside break was snuffed out and a certain try was well and truly butchered. This game-turning opportunity was to come back and haunt the home side as they struggled to contain Vandals who camped on the Warlingham line. At virtually the first scrum of the afternoon the referee awarded a surprising penalty try to Vandals when no previous offences had been penalised. The conversion and a subsequent penalty put Vandals eight points to the good at the turn-round.

The constant drizzle and greasy ball led to handling errors on both sides but lock Luke Delderfield broke free and gave Alex Skinner
the perfect pass and the winger glided past two defenders to score under the posts. Full back Joe McEvoy converted. The recalcitrant Vandals pack were penalised on numerous occasions but Warlingham were unable to breach their defence. Against the run of play Vandals gained a third penalty. With less than ten minutes to play, and with dusk closing in, Warlingham threw everything into attack and battered against the visitors' try line. The referee awarded several penalties to Warlingham whilst on the Vandals line but was not inclined to repeat the earlier 'penalty try' decision. Much to Warlingham's chagrin the final whistle went
and Warlingham only secured the losing bonus point.

After the game Head Coach Ben Stobart said, "The result is very disappointing indeed. I thought we had done quite enough to
be awarded a penalty try near the end and thereby take the four winning points. However, as is often said, 'the referee is the sole
arbiter of the laws' and we accept his decisions. I'm very pleased with the way the players kept their heads when things were going
against us. We have worked hard on our discipline and as a whole the club is in a very good place with lots of pressure being put on
the First XV by players in our second XV - especially at fly half where we have considerable strength in depth. This is always a good
sign and brings out the best in players."

Warlingham: McEvoy, Atkinson, Saffery, Beavan, Skinner, Glover, Murtagh, Unsworth, Fox, Abou-Zeid, Robson, Delderfield,
King, Thornton, Osborne (captain), Scutt, Ioannou, Stobart.

Other result: Warlingham II XV - 48pts -v- Law Society - 0pts

Warlingham's next League game is on 6th December at home against Effingham & Leatherhead.. All supporters very welcome.