Woking 62 points Egham Hollowegians 12 points
Returning to the field after a fortnight lay off for the Christmas break Woking Rugby sponsored by Bedbar faced league rivals Egham Hollowegians in the Surrey County Plate knock out competition.
In bright sunshine the game commenced with competitive play from both sides that culminated in an early try from Woking wing Neil Murphy that was converted by Dan Edwards. Egham returned the favour with their own break out try as Woking struggled to coordinate their defensive line. In real end to end stuff Egham kicked long and Woking fullback Thomas Pedrona ran the ball back from his 22m beating tackle after tackle to score a fine individual try. Soon Woking registered a further try as Woking back rowers Adam Smith and Phil Robertson linked off the back of a scrum and Robertson made a long sprint for the line scoring between the posts.
Still fresh and full of running Egham kicked and chased and pinned Woking down into their 22 metre area. Sustained pressure exerted through the Egham forwards in the loose was rewarded when they burst over the line for a powerful try. The relative balance of the game was now to change significantly as Woking took the upper hand. In the scrums the thrown together front row of Jones, Lovell and Harriot performed well with real drive from the second row from Hills and Stedman and in the lineout Brennan was majestic in his catching of Woking and Egham ball. This provided a great platform for Woking to register two further tries before the break from full back Thomas Pedrona again showing striking pace and then second row Dan Hills who was fleet of foot supporting the backs down the left wing to score a fine try.
The second half was one way traffic in terms of scoring, but Egham were competitive. It was Woking’s pace and some weak tackling from Egham that let Woking in for their second half tries. On the contrary Woking’s Lovell put in arguably his best game in some time as his tackling was bone crunching and his close running powerful and as ever Adam Smith was excellent at the breakdown in ball winning and breaking off with the ball.
Woking set about their work in the second half, launched into attack repeatedly off a solid forward base by fly half Matt Boorman who was excellent in the second forty minutes of the game. This provided the launch pad for Pedrona to compete a hat trick, and Murphy to surge in for his second. Veteran prop Richard Gilbert propped up the scrum for the final quarter, following injury to Jones and provided the technique to destroy the Egham pack as they tired in the second half.
Pace man Chris Wallis sliced through the Egham defence on the right wing and scrum half James Bannister proved his pace and power by skipping through several weak tackles to score the final try.
Captain Phil Robertson exclaimed over a well earned pint of ale and a steaming plate of chilli con carne in the clubhouse ‘A fine result for Woking – we need to commit as a team to being regularly available then we can perform to a good standard as we showed today.’
Woking: Lovell Harriot Jones (Gilbert) Hills Stedman Smith Robertson Brennan Bannister Boorman Taylor Edwards Murphy Pedrona Wallis Turner.
New players are always welcome at Woking contact them at info@wokingrugby.com or visit them at www.wokingrugby.com. Training Tuesday and Thursday 7.30pm – 9pm Byfleet Rec. Stream Close off Rectory Lane.
