An enthralling contest in Weybridge’s early spring sunshine saw the belief flow back into Warlingham. A first try bonus point this season for their 4 tries scored and another for losing by a suitably low margin of 4 points was reward for a passionate and committed display, with a win in the balance right until the final whistle.

The Wars were on it from the off, collecting their own kick off and driving straight at the hosts line. With great attacking fluency, the visitors combined forwards and backs to great effect, drawing penalties from Georgians in their red zone. Debutant Tom Warne made an instant impact at 13, his Warlingham pedigree undeniable as the Warne’s on the touchline can attest to. A great debut. Lock Spencer Clifford was everywhere and made line breaks alongside his usual high workrate. Harry Cave was excellent in the line out and served up a great performance up front. Matt Talboys battled hard to deliver the clean ball Warly thrived on.

Despite the impressive opening, Wars missed a couple of penalty shots to open the scoring and could have let their heads drop as a slick Georgians side counterattacked to score two unconverted tries in either corner. Their heads did not drop!

Warlingham opened their scoring with a sharp attack culminating with back row Olly Wilson delivering a perfect delayed pass to rampaging man of the match and hooker Matt Barnett crashing through the stretched defensive line and over the try line. Barnett and Wilson were excellent on both sides of the ball and at the breakdown and their combination to break the scoreline spoke volumes of the determination Warlingham brought to the game.

It seemed more scores would come. Riley Potter’s introduction brought his usual brand of power play to Wars and Mark Chatfield injected himself into the line from fullback. Georgians struggled to handle Chatfield’s intervention from the back field and his kicking and defence gave Warlingham security alongside Terrell Palmer-Simpson’s tireless chasing. Left winger Jackson Stevens had a try chalked off after an acrobatic dive in the corner was ruled out for an earlier forward pass, unlucky for the youngster.

A late converted try and a penalty from Georgians took them into a 20- 7 half time lead which was very much against the run of play. But the audible calls from Warlingham’s players from the huddle showed the Wars could turn this around.

Warlingham convincingly won the second half and were agonisingly close to a deserved win. Wars dominated territory and possession and moved the ball around in the dry conditions.

A real 80 minute shift from the pack was rewarded with that thing of rare rugby beauty, a scrum push over try from fully 10 yards out. Props Matt Healey and Alex Nunn’s power had their opposite numbers on skates and the Warly pack shunted the Georgians 8 backwards with control at the base and flourishing dive over from Wand from less than a yard. A pack try to be proud of.

With the platform solid up front, Warlingham went again. Noah Clay was strong at 12 and his new partnership with Warne in the centres challenged the league’s high flyers every time they had the ball and found young speedster Jackson Stevens on the left wing to frequently cause problems. From a wave of attack down the left hand side, Warlingham’s big ball carriers got involved and skipper Olly Wilson capped a strong performance with a powerful drive from close range that would not be stopped.

Belief flowed into the blue and whites. A brilliant fight back and chance of victory was on. Formidable runs from Dearden, Cave and Healey alongside added energy from the bench with Nick Hammond, Olly Meadows, Raphael Fudge and Alex Glover parked Warlingham in the opposition 22. With quick ball regularly secured, young playmaker Sturgess challenged the line, sold the dummy, stepped off his left foot and scored beneath the posts to huge cheers from the Warly faithful. Credit to the young man for his composure, with time ticking he drop kicked the conversion to leave the game in the balance at 30-26 with a try to win it with minutes left.

Warlingham looked the fitter, stronger and more likely in the closing phases but Georgians were able to manage the frantic end to the game kicking long and hanging on, desperate to get the ball off the pitch at the end. The visiting players were disappointed to lose but can take incredible pride in their performance. Their best of the season against a top side in the league. Warlingham will hope to build on this for the last three league games of the season.