Sevenoaks show the way with better use of the conditions.

With torrential rain falling and a strong gale wind blowing at the sound of the referees whistle to start the match, it was obvious to see that the team able to use these conditions to their advantage best would be the eventual winners of this mid table London South East 2 fixture.

Sevenoaks had the advantage of the wind in the first half and played a perfect game plan to put Wars under immediate pressure. The Oaks number 10 pushed Warlingham deep into there own 22 at any opportunity and after Warlingham failed to clear there lines effectively, Sevenoaks scored there first try of the afternoon with a clever set piece from a line out which resulted in the Oaks hooker crossing over in the corner. Although the Oaks fly half had the wind to assist him with his kicks, he was also, to his credit, very accurate throughout the afternoon and slotted the extras from the touchline.

Warlingham failed to gain any real possession or territory in the first half and loose kicks were gobbled up by the Oaks back three and sent back down into deep Warlingham territory. Wars tried to gain some possession by keeping it tight through carries from Luke Delderfield and Captain Jon Osborne, but this was to no avail and Oaks were also proving to be more dominant at the breakdown forcing turnovers and making Warlingham give away penalties. Two of these penalties were converted by the Oaks number 10 to bring the score to 13-0.

Oaks recycled the ball from the restart and sent it back down to the Warlingham 22, this was knocked on by the would be catcher and Oaks had an attacking scrum. The early advantage in the scrum also went to Oaks and this eventually ended in the number 8 scoring. The try was converted and the score was now 20-0.

From the restart, the same scenario occurred again and unfortunately the knock on occurred 10 yards closer to the Warlingham line and it only took Oaks 2 scrums for them to force another push over try. The extras were missed bringing the score to 25-0.

The Warlingham backs were starved of any ball and on the rare occasion they did get any it looked positive as centre Bradley Saffery continued to break the gain line but lacked any support. Another Penalty was knocked over by Oaks just before half time resulting in the score being 28-0 at the break.

Coach Ben Stobart had a lot of work to do at the break in trying to spring some life into Warlingham and made two changes. Warlingham welcomed back Tom Street and Stephen Murtagh who managed to move things forward for Warlingham. Within 2 minutes of the 2nd half, Warlingham were on the score sheet thanks to a long range penalty from Joe Mccavoy. The wind was now in favour of Warlingham and they had to try and implement the same tactics as Oaks used if they were going to find anyway back into this game.

Warlingham began to see a lot more of the ball and strong carries from Tom Street and Keiron Scutt forced Oaks into conceding penalties. One of these was converted by Mccavoy. 28-6. Warlingham then found themselves deep into Oaks 22 and through a catch and drive line out Tom Street scurried over for Warlingham’s first try of the afternoon and Wars began to sense that they may still be in this contest. Maccavoy added the extras and the score was now 28-13.

Warlingham had to keep putting the pressure on Oaks by making them play deep out of their own half, but for some reason, they were now trying to force the issue and took to trying to run the ball from there own half. This resulted in a turn over penalty for Oaks and even with the wind against, the Oaks 10 struck the ball sweetly to put the score at 31-13.

The last 10 minutes was all Warlingham’s and a well worked try was finished off in the corner by Jack Green, but it was too little too late and Sevenoaks were worthy winners. The damage was done in the first half and although Warlingham showed good fighting spirit to come out and win the second half, they know that this game could have been a lot closer. Coach Ben Stobart said ‘I was proud of the way the boys responded at half time and there attitude in the second half was brilliant, but it was a disappointing start and we have to pick ourselves up and make sure were start in better fashion next week’

Warlingham: Scutt, J Deldefield, Abou-Zeid, L Deldefield, Iaonou, Ayles. Osborne (c), Dodwell, Doe, Morrison, Saffery, Davies, Green, Skinner, Mccavoy, Street, Kozminski, Murtagh