Reports by John Farrow
Counties 1-Surrey Sussex
Weybridge Vandals 50pts London Cornish 13pts
Vandals recorded another handsome victory over the old foes of London Cornish and in doing so consolidated their second place in the Surrey Sussex league.
Cornish battled away reviving past victories over Vandals but there was to be no further success.
Vandals quickly got control and continued to stay in command for much of the match. The points difference once again reflected Vandal's dominance and however much Cornish showed desire and determination to play in an attacking style, they had no real answer to Vandals supreme teamwork.
Vandals laid down a marker from the outset with a midfield break and an opening try and conversion by Centre Sam Bullet. Cornish struck back from the restart with their fullback making a fine break and scoring in the corner. Vandals quickly restored their lead with a Cameron Edgar try but they then conceded a soft penalty through a late tackle in front of the posts. They put this reverse behind them with Henry Gulliver driving over to score for Sam Bullet to add another conversion to add points. Further scores before half time gave Vandals a huge points advantage with the interval score of 33 points to 8 and a virtually impossible task for Cornish to come back from.
However Cornish did strike back early in the second-half despite losing a player to the sin bin but could not maintain any pressure and Vandals showed their overall command in the latter stages of the match with 2 tries by Cameron Edgar again and scrum half Joe Graves signaling their team's dominance. The league title for Counties 1 Surrey Sussex remains a distinct possibility for Vandals who keep their feet firmly on the ground as they continue to train intensely each week in preparation for their next challenge.
Girls Junior Festival…
On Sunday over 300 girls took part in a superb rugby festival at Brownacres, despite the stormy weather the girls lit up the atmosphere playing some delightful rugby. Also on a Sunday at Vandals, a combined Vandals London Irish and Reed’s under 14 squad played against Old Reigations, with a special mention to Josie Clark, daughter of vandal's former first team scrum half who lit up the day with some exhilarating rugby.