A resurgent Warlingham marched to a third straight league win and up to second place in the Counties 4 Surrey league table with a commanding performance away at Woking. Doing his best to keep notes on the frantic action is David Haliwell with this report.

The Wars raced into an early lead, securing a bonus point for scoring four tries in a relentless first half of attacking ferocity that the hosts couldn’t live with.

From the kick off, Warlingham looked threatening, linking forwards and backs with strong evasive running and slick handling skills. The opening try was straight off the training ground. A well worked line out expertly thrown by Olly Gill and secured by skipper Morgan Gillam was driven forward by the pack. From the maul, evergreen scrum-half Alex Glover utilised the dynamic front foot platform to find fly half Louis Rossi-Jones who teased the retreating defence and found inside-centre Ollie Wilson cutting a perfect line to dash under the posts.

With the pack in dominant mood typified by Simon Townsend and young prop Tom Worrall’s tireless performances, and the back three of Fabio Monsellato-Boyd, Jonah Clay and stand out full-back Noah Clay finding lots of space to run riot, it wasn’t long before Glover caused chaos again with a quick tap penalty to find powerful number 8 Jamie Hughes rampaging through to score again under the posts.

Woking were struggling to gain a foothold in the game and a well deserved try from galloping lock forward Harry Cave followed Rossi-Jones’ exquisite flat pass. Cave sprinted in from long range to celebrate his excellent recent form in the engine room with a classy finish.

Outside centre Moses Bisatu claimed the much sought after bonus point-sealing try. Having carved through the Woking defence at will, Bisatu finished a wonderful move from the Wars, with clever offloads, great footwork and wise decision-making ending up in the hands of Warlingham’s strike centre.

Woking couldn’t catch a break and with their limited possession tried to exploit space out wide with a long looping pass that was plucked out of the air by Warlingham’s all action backrow Andrew Dearden, an interception try adding to his hat trick last week with another dash under the posts. A dream start for Warlingham’s young chargers.

The half ended with a Woking try from close range after determined counter rucking showing the spirit the home side would bring to the second half but Warlingham could be well pleased with their work in the opening stanza.

The second half would be much more closely fought and Woking upped their intensity to match the momentum Warlingham had brought with them from Hamsey Green. Veterans Matt Talboys, Nick Hammond and Adam Downie-Keen were called onto the field to provide ballast and experience and helped keep up the pressure for the Wars. At the opposite end of the age scale, imposing second row Raphael Fudge picked up the man of the match award and the next try which typified his performance. Celebrating his 18th birthday during the week, Fudge was all over the park in attack and defence. His try, diving on the loose ball from his own charge down of a kick, highlighted his enthusiasm for the game.

Full credit to Woking, they never gave up and forced their way over for two well crafted consolation tries and the hosts certainly had the better of the closing quarter. But Warlingham also seemed like having an extra gear when they needed it and following some good play from Terrell Palmer-Simpson, Warlingham shifted the ball wide again to Moses Bisatu who skipped past four players before touching down to complete the scoring and his brace of scores. Rossi-Jones slotted his fifth conversion from out-wide to put the icing on the cake of a 19-45 win.

Warlingham head into a tough December of fixtures in good form with the visit of Cranleigh this weekend. The blue and whites supporters will be hoping for their side to continue their winning ways in the run up to Christmas.

All photos: Hayley Sasserath
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