Warlingham dig deep to secure important away win.

Due to a number of unavailabilitie and injuries Warlingham were going to have to dig deep at a much improving Sevenoaks if they were to come away with any points. Recalling players still recovering from injuries and also giving players their first team debuts this season, Warlingham knew they were up against it.

Playing with the wind for the first half Sevenoaks dominated possession and territory in the first 20 minutes and set out their intentions
by turning down a kickable penalty to kick to the corner. Breaching Warlingham’s midfield on many occasions it was the final pass that
let Sevenoaks down and this proved to be very costly for the home side. The early scrummages once again saw Sevenoaks have the upper hand and this led to their first try. A solid set piece led to a simple try in the corner scored by the Sevenoaks right winger The resulting
conversion struck the upright but was unsuccessful from wide out.
This finally woke up Warlingham and the introduction of the influential player coach Tom Street seemed to rally the Warly forwards into action.

Keiran Scutt and Tom Skinner started to gain metres with the ball in hand and Captain Zack King was making a nuisance of himself at the breakdown which resulted in a number of infringements by Sevenoaks. The usual metronimic Kozminski missed two kickable penalties but managed to find his radar with his third attempt of the afternoon to bring the score to 5-3. This was to be the half time score although just before the break Sevenoaks were reduced to fourteen men due to the inside centre using his elbow when running into contact. The decision raised a few eyebrows from the home team and their supporters but the yellow card was still shown.

Warlingham, now playing with the wind, started much brighter and booming kicks down field by full back Joe MccEvoy and fly half Harry Wrightson earned them good territory. Unlike Sevenoaks in the first half Warlingham, were much more clinical and a driving maul into the 22 was marshaled well by Tom Street and ended in the flanker crossing over the line for his first try. Kozminski converted from wide out.

Sevenoaks continued to infringe at the breakdown and did themselves no favours by constantly questioning the referee’s decision. Penalties put Warlingham back into the Oaks 22 and from the resulting line out Tom Street once again found himself in plenty of space and galloped over the line for his second of the afternoon. Kozminski converted and Warlingham were in the driving seat.

Oaks to their credit then stepped up their game as Warlingham took their foot off the pedal. A good break from the Oaks flanker put them into Warlingham’s 22.

A cynical tackle off the ball by James Delderfield resulted in a yellow card and three points to Oaks. Warlingham then used the wind to their advantage again and another infringement by Sevenoaks led to Kozminski cancelling out the three points just scored by Sevenoaks and bought the score to 20-8.

It was then Oak’s turn to attack the Warlingham line and the Oaks captain found himself in acres of space on the left wing and glided past two Warlingham tackles. Alex Skinner covered from his right wing over to the left and put in a last ditch try saving tackle which was rightfully deemed to be high. A yellow card was awarded but no penalty try much the discretion of the home fans who were beginning to make their discent heard to the referee.

Warlingham had to see out the remainder of the match with fourteen men and defended their line doggedly with big hits coming in from the Wrightson brothers Jack and Harry. The pressure eventually caused Warlingham to commit one too many defenders to the break down and Oaks worked an overlap well to convert their second try of the afternoon. 20-15 with 6 minutes remaining. Oaks could sniff a late scalp.

Warlingham restarted and, after a minor scrap broke out, the penalty decision went to Warlingham. The Oaks supported expressed their anger again at the referee’s decision and whilst Kozminski was in the process of his run up to strike the penalty, the home fans tried to put Kozminski off and his penalty was struck wide. The referee noticed this ungentlemanly conduct and allowed Kozminski to re-take the penalty. Warlingham were not complaining as this wasted another valuable minute of time and took away all the current momentum Sevenoaks had mustered. Kozminski missed with the second attempt but time was now up and the next stoppage of play bought an end to the game with Warlingham winning 20-15.

It was a hard fought win for Warlingham and Captain Zack King commented, "With all the current injuries and unavailabilities we had this week, I was proud of the boys who stuck at it and dug deep to get the win. This is a hard place to come and win and in that respect I am happy. This was not our finest performance so we are counting ourselves a little bit lucky but I’m not complaining’

Warlingham now have three weeks off for the Christmas break.

Warlingham: Ant Abou-Zeid, James Delderfield, Keiron Scutt, Nick Ray, Jack Wrightson, Zack King, Jon Osborne, Tom Skinner, Stephen Murtagh, Harry Wrightson, Mark Kozminski, Ben Wimble, Jack Atkinson, Alex Skinner, Joe McEvoy, James Agate, Alex Nunn, Tom Street.

Warlingham's other two sides played on far better pitches at their Hamsey Green home and also secured their respective winning league points before the Christmas break.

Warlingham 2nd XV 27 -v- Old Becchamians - 10pts
Warlingham 3rd XV 11 -v- Old Johnians 7pts