London Irish Amateurs 3 Wimbledon 24 (From Surrey Comet)

London Irish Amateurs 3 Wimbledon 24

2:56pm Tuesday 19th December 2006 in

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Wimbledon wound up their pre-Christmas league schedule with a deserved win-double over a niggly London Irish side, who might have done better if they'd concentrated on the game rather than who they might hit next, writes Tony Mann.

The first half was played almost entirely between the two 22's, with neither side playing much decent rugby.

As ever this season, the Wimbledon pack soon dominated their opposition, both in the set piece scrum and with their driving mauls - with locks Alejandro Tostado and Alistair Hewitt at the heart of both.

But the backs, perhaps disconcerted by their naff new team strip, though strong in defence, just couldn't get it together in attack.

They kicked poorly to give the Irish more possession than they deserved, and kept running the wrong lines but, despite conceding the first score to a penalty goal after 30 minutes, came good just before half time, when wing Hugh Griffin was the man to touch down after the pack had three times driven the Irish to within inches of their goal line.

Stand-off Elroy Cupido converted for the first of his 19-points tally in the game.

After a slow start to the second half, Wimbledon began to look threatening, thanks to the now total domination of their forwards - flanker-cum-hooker Graham Symons having a particularly strong game, along with the rock-solid props James Reed and Gavin O'Callaghan - but the new-look back line still made too many errors and it took a bit of individual flair from Cupido to round off the first really promising move with a try in the corner after seven minutes.

Although the game was now being played entirely in the Irish half, with the home team's forwards looking increasingly desparate to win some ball, but constantly denied any, especially by flanker James Simpson and no.8 Brett Box, it was half an hour before Wimbledon added to their 10-3 lead with a try from Cupido, who sliced through the ragged Irish defence to score beneath the posts. His conversion made a Wimbledon win a formality, but he extended the lead with a second, very similar try and conversion five minutes before time - a just reward for the penalty try that the forwards ought to have been awarded moments earlier.

Not the best game to watch, but another very satisfactory win for Wimbledon to cement their fourth place in the league. They take a break now until taking on Maidstone at home on January 6th.