Old Whitgiftians ran out 11-5 winners at Old Freemens on Saturday, writes Bob Schad.

Fresh from a concinging win over Croydon the previous week, Freemens produced a flow attacks from the kick off, prompted by their recently acquired New Zealand fly half, Wade Brunsdon.

However the Old Whitgiftian tackling was ferocious and effective. The OW scrum was strong in the set pieces and even more so in the line out where Tom Hipsey and James Schad were dominant.

The backs, though tackling well, lacked fluency in their passing and apart from some darting runs by Barrett Bloxham, failed to penetrate the OF defence. Their only scoring chances were two penalty kicks, both misse The pattern of the second half was very much the same, strong running by the OFs, and equally strong tackling by the OWs, with back row forwards Mike Grant and James Bloomer prominent.

However, as the game progressed, Andrew Marshall, who had languished on the wing in the first half, began to create openings for the OW backs from his new position at fly half.

Following an Andrew Marshall break, Barrett Bloxham cut in and Les Todd, neatly picking up a grounded pass, scored in the corner.

After a missed penalty kick by the OFs Andrew Marshall kicked a penalty for the OWs. The OW scrum were now taking over, picking and driving, with Tom Dunsmore and Tim Ward to the fore, causing The OFs to concede another penalty, Andrew Marshall converting.

With time running out, the OFs continued to counter-attack and Wade Brunsdon went over for an unconverted try. leaving the OWs 11-5 victors.

Apart from those already mentioned, the wholehearted performance of second row forward Jim Ryan made a significant contribution to this victory.

John Young, the OW coach must have been pleased with the cohesion, commitment and discipline that his side showed, and the promise of even better performances to come.