Wimbledon Wake-up Call

Wimbledon Wake-up Call

A boost to their season with several wins under their belt had Hastings and Bexhill’s Colts side in good spirits entering this week’s friendly against visitors Wimbledon. However they were brought sharply back down to earth on Saturday with a sound defeat by the touring side in a competitive, but overall one-sided match.

An enthusiastic start saw Hastings remaining unshakably camped in the Wimbledon half. The visitor’s superior size gave them the advantage in the rucks and scrums but honours were even in the lineouts. In fact both teams looked evenly matched in the initial stages of the game, with no score until near the end of the first half when Wimbledon’s impressive midfield began to dominate open play. H&B were having to tackle hard to stem the flow, foiling two attacks at the corner flags but unable to stop the third.

This try proved the turning point of the match. After a failed conversion attempt, Hastings came back in full force, only to be beaten back by a smooth Wimbledon attack down the wing leading to their second try; the kick taking them into half time.

Despite a strong, confident start to the second half, Hastings were soon on the back foot again. Some strong running from Nick Van Herpen and James Cornford, coupled with enthusiastic link up play from Ed Feist and the back line, was not enough to counteract the strength of the Wimbledon attacks. Once the second half scoring was opened, the visitors began to score seemingly at will with an impressive display of strength, speed and skill. As fatigue and injuries mounted, Hastings could do little to stem the flow and the game ended 0-52 to Wimbledon.

Some satisfaction can be gained from the first half performance, however, against a team who successfully compete with the likes of Wasps and London Irish, and H&B should gain strength from the experience going into Sunday’s league tie at Burgess Hill.