A wind-swept Saturday, that would have provided inspiration for any of the Bronte sisters, saw a Warlingham Club XV take on Croydon Wanderers in a friendly game that was truly a family affair, with a collection of brothers, uncles, fathers and sons all gracing the green carpet, writes Warlingham Wildcards Touch Head Coach, Craig Aldridge.

FINAL SCORE

Croydon Wanderers 36 - 12 Warlingham (Club XV)

The game was also a total club event, with an age range covering over five decades, with the youngest player being just 17, and Peter Mattison, poking old father time in the eye, proving that 69 year olds can still hack it on the pitch. Truly a celebration of Warlingham Rugby Football Club's past, present and future that brought a tear to the eye, though that could have been the wind.

The game started handily enough, Wanderers picked up the early momentum, driving hard into the Warlingham half, but some excellent defence forced a turnover of the ball, and a truly superb kick from Harry Sturgess within the Warlingham half, put Wanderers on their five metre line and unable to gather the ball securely. After a phase of messy play, Warlingham were able to turnover the ball, and a sharp miss pass from Lewis Hazeldine to Harrison Thompson created space on the outside allowing Jonah Clay to draw first blood in the match; this was also wonderfully converted by Harry Sturgess in difficult conditions.

Wanderers were able to strike back from the kick-off, with Warlingham unable to take the ball at the restart bringing about the first scrum of the game. The home team made their superiority felt in the scrum, a theme that would repeat on both sides of the ball for the rest of the game. The first engagement created a good platform for the opposition number 8 to charge down the open side and release his backline with a nifty offload (though questionable subsequent hands) for Wanderers to score in the corner, though with the conversion unsuccessful, the score stood at 5-7 to Warly. This passage of play also saw the end of Harry Sturgess having taken a hefty knee to the head.

The mid-section of the first half was relatively even, with both teams trading blows, but lack of accuracy and discipline meant the game stuttered and started. One such event led to an exceptional piece of individual effort, where a loose pass from the base of the Warly ruck gave the home team an opportunity to break down the right wing, but a lung busting effort from Harrison Thompson, who found his inner McClosky, charged across the field to stop a guaranteed score. Unfortunately the efforts were unable to halt the Croydon advance, which saw Matt Talboys in the bin for 10 minutes for a high tackle (though looked pretty benign), and Croydon take a 12-7 lead. Croydon were able to make their numerical advantage count, and with an even greater advantage in the scrum quickly added to the tally making the score 19-7.

Warlingham did strike back, and although the fat boys were unable to match up in the scrum (lets not talk about the line out, other than to say neither side covered themselves in glory), at the breakdown they were fiercely competitive, and it was this, with five minutes to go forced an error in the backline, that gave Harrison Thompson, once again, the opportunity to break through the line and run in a great solo effort from halfway, bringing the Wars back within a score 19-12. With the clock in the red, the team in blue and white looked to even up the score, pounding the opposition line, only for a knock on at the vital moment bringing in half-time.

If the first half was an evenly contested affair, the second was anything other than. Aside from kick-off, the ball didn't make it back into the Croydon half for the rest of the game, with one spectator speculating as to whether the ball ever left the Warlingham 22. In fairness, this was a team suffering from a lack of time on the training pitch (and a lack of a full team on the pitch, more on that to come), rather than lack of desire and determination. However, that doesn't mean nothing happened.

Firstly, Croydon did run in three more scores, but this could have been a lot worse had it not been for the efforts of Shaun Tyler-Free, who was a tackling machine, putting in some huge hits and genuinely putting in the work of two men out there, an exceptional defensive display that would ultimately earn him a well deserved player of the match nod. The other nod goes to Darren Gwynn who was an animal at the breakdown and put in a great shift to keep the score to something reasonable.

So that's the good, but there is some bad. There is an old adage in rugby, that it is easier to win with 15 players on the pitch at all times; and when you get more yellow cards than tries, some may question if you understand how the game works. So, a couple of dishonourable mentions, firstly Cedric Bunel, who saw yellow for a deliberate (and, like, really obvious!) knock-on, and didn't even try to hide it; and also our erstwhile former President, Peter York, who forgot what decade he was playing in and nearly took an opposition player's head off with a high shot that would have made Willie John McBride proud. Also one for Joe Kelly who applauded Yorkie off the pitch after getting his sanction… What a numpty!

Final score 36-12, but that doesn't really matter (I mean, it would, had we won), it was great to see so much of the club represented out on turf, and the amount of travelling support that came to what was nothing more than a friendly game. Thank you to everyone who turned out - whether on the field or the sidelines - that pride and passion is emblematic of our fine club spirit, and proof it is still alive and kicking; as is Pete Mattison, hopefully, I mean 69 and making a tackle - talk about playing chicken with the grim reaper…

Well done Warly, on to the next one! Which may be sooner than you think as another Club XV will play Staines 2XV whilst the first teams duke it out in the season’s final league game on the 11th April! Interested in playing? Get in touch with Scott Toomey or Alex Glover and sign yourself up!

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