The third outing for the Warlingham Under 14B's Waterfall Cup campaign took them to the quaint home of Old Rutlishians in South London. The sun was out and despite a cold, nagging breeze it was the sort of day where the weather was never going to be the culprit for an under par performance.
The boys knew a win was vital to secure a strong league position and allow them to finish at the top of the table. They looked great warming up but could they translate that to a solid performance when the bullets started flying?
The answer to that question seemed to be an emphatic 'yes' as the boys started the game with pretty much perfect rugby. Strong forwards work and good discipline in the backs saw the ball won time and time again at the breakdown and moved from one side of the pitch to the other in the blink of an eye. The resultant onslaught allowed Ollie Smith to bust through the Old Ruts ruptured defence and pop the ball down in the corner for try number one.
No sooner had the game restarted Warlingham were back in possession and strong carries from the mighty figure of Shayne Thompson buckled the home teams defence to allow gaps to open up all over the place - one of which was perfectly exploited by the incredible speed of winger Theo English and he banked Warly's second try not two minutes after the first.
Two more fully deserved tries followed for winger Dylan Phillips (conv. Fionn Flaherty) and scrum half Josh Dolling to put Warlingham into a commanding and utterly dominant 22 - 0 lead.
And then..................... what happened?
A few minutes before half time the game changed as the home team started to take advantage of some new found Warlingham sloppiness. Mistakes crept in to every element of the Warly game and the simple game plan of straight running and hard rucking was screwed up and thrown in the bin to be replaced by questionable decision making and error strewn defence and attack. Hopefully a typically stirring Millington half time debriefing could get the boys back on track.
Alas, it was not entirely successful as time and time again decision making didn't go quite right and Old Ruts gained in confidence and the points started coming their way. Despite some good attacks from Warlingham in the closing stages of the game we weren't able to add to our initial tally of 22 points and the boys held on gamely for a deserved 22-17 win.
The first period of the game should be reflected upon as an excellent performance and it shows the very high level the boys are capable of playing at - it was genuinely good rugby.
There were a number of great individual performances but special mention must go to Jackson Stevens who not only made tons of ground with ball in hand but defended superbly. Well done Jacko!