Our first away game of the current Waterfall Cup series saw the under 14A's take a trip to sunny south west London to take on Battersea Ironside. It was pretty much a 'must win' game for Battersea to keep their hopes of a strong placing in the league alive and it was certainly a 'want to win' game for Warlingham as a win would almost guarantee us a finishing place at the top of the table.
Both teams were missing some strong players but for the first time this year the sun was out and pitch was dry - perfect conditions for the sort of rugby the Warly under14s excel at.
Courtesy of the favourable conditions for the first time this year we were able to put the emphasis on shifting the ball wide and it proved to be very a effective pattern of play as a cheeky little offload from James Gathercole saw Fionn Flaherty dive for the corner and first blood going to Warlingham. The try was impressively converted from the touch line by the steely boot of George Forkan.
From the restart Warlingham once again stretched the game wide and the result was a well deserved try for winger George Forkan. Warlingham had started to gain momentum and if it wasn't for a couple of midfield handling errors the game would have been put to bed in the first 10 minutes. But credit where credit is due - Battersea didn't roll over and aided by some questionable refereeing started to become dominant at the breakdown as Warlingham struggled to adapt to the referees requirements. Battersea took advantage and muscled the ball over the line in a messy passage of play perhaps leaving Warlingham to rue the earlier dropped balls! Maybe it was game on?
Following one of the few rucks that didn't result in a blast of the whistle the ball got shifted down the line as far as man of the match James Gathercole and with a typically powerful charge he deftly handed of a couple of Battersea backs to touchdown between the sticks.
After a strong and resurgent passage of play from the home side the Warly heart rates calmed slightly as Oliver Haydon crossed the line for Warlingham's fourth following an excellent and and strongly contested forwards battle. Despite Battersea offering up strong challenges and hard runs from their numerous penalty restarts Warlingham held firm and the hard grafting forwards and half backs earned the opportunity for James Gathercole to cross twice more and move the game beyond Battersea's grasp.
Once again we were treated to a fine display from the U14A's. They are a side awash with talented individuals and always come up with the goods when required. However, stern tests still await with a clash against Wimbledon followed by a likely meeting with old adversaries Rosslyn Park in the final of the Waterfall Cup. There is still work to do but the trophy is firmly in our sights. Good luck fellas..............