With the rain falling down all afternoon it was always going to be tough going for player and spectator alike and it certainly proved just that. With Ben Joyce making his 150th appearance for the club and a debutant on the bench Cobham were hoping to make a strong start.
With Cobham doing well in the opening exchanges and keeping Westcombe Park pinned back in their half they just struggled to break down their well organised defence and as the half wore on Cobham could only show a single penalty on the score board. With the half running down a strong tackle in the midfield caused Cobham to cough the ball up and Westcombe Park moved the ball wide and scored in the corner, conversion added. Half time score of 3-7
Half time talk was all about coming out strong in the next 10 minutes however straight from the kick off Cobham gave a penalty which meant Combe were straight back on to the attack. Two tries followed swiftly after this and the game was beginning to run away from the home side. However Cobham did come back and proceeded to put heavy pressure on the Away side through a series of excellent scrums and then some good catch and drives from the line outs - which seemed to be stopped in a less than legitimate way on a few occasions.
However the pressure eventually told and the score was now just 10-19 and Cobham could smell a comeback. However this was not to be and with Max Macdonald receiving what appeared to be a harsh yellow card for a minor infringement at the break down the away side made the extra number count scoring a final try to claim the win and a scoring bonus point.
Chris Gibbons after the game “It was another occasion of missed opportunities for the young Cobham side where there was plenty of promise in patches however a couple of poor decisions and some penalties going against us meant we were on the wrong side of the scoreboard.”
With a break coming up next weekend the boys will be training hard to put things right for their next game against Tottonians''
Westcombe Park's match report
http://www.westcombeparkrugby.co.uk/news/combe-victory-as-stout-defence-blunts-cobham-2354846.html
1 Ben Joyce (150th Cap)
2 Andrew Murphy
3 Sam Matcham
4 Ben Latimer
5 Doug Rodman
6 Olly Fox (C)
7 Theo Buffini
8 Tom Davison
9 Rory Penfold
10 Luke Flower
11 Tiernan White
12 Tom Farrelly
13 Andrew Jones Davies (1st start)
14 Will Sanders
15 George Tunnacliffe
16 Ryan Aujla
17 Jaques Le Roux (debut)
18 Max MacDonald
