There may not have been a pot of gold under the rainbow at Esher but Wimbledon came away with a well-deserved bonus point win as they continued their pursuit of the Surrey Premiership League 1 title.

Playing into a strong wind and often driving rain in the first period they had the best of starts when after just two minutes Rory Cramp touched down in the corner following a sizzling break by Liam Ward from well inside his own half. The lead was short-lived. From the restart Wimbledon looked to run the ball from deep, it was stripped on their 22 and Esher bounced back with a converted try for a 7-5 lead. The conditions and a growing penalty count against them meant that the Dons spent much of the next 25 minutes deep in their own half, but the defence held firm and following a rare foray into the Esher 22 a penalty was kicked for the corner, the lineout won and the returning Paul Hendry bounced through two tackles to touch down. Another lineout followed ten minutes later in the same corner but this time the forwards drove over with Cramp touching down again. With the last play of the half the Dons conceded a penalty in front of the posts and Esher converted to go into the break very much still in contention with the score of 10-15.

However, with the wind now behind them and also stepping up the tempo it did not take Wimbledon long to take charge of the match. Within minutes of the restart George Brosch was put through after a strong run from Ka-Cie Addison had created gaps in the defence. This was followed soon afterwards by further tries, first from flanker Jamie Milllais and then from Matt Grobler, all three converted by Regan Botham. Esher pulled back a converted try on 50 minutes but the Dons were quick to stretch the lead again, first when Hendry touched down under the posts after chasing Botham’s chip kick over the Esher defence, and then when Botham himself gathered his own kick to run in from the 22 to take the final score to 24-48.

It was not always the smoothest of performances with the conditions making handling difficult, but there was no lack of effort and a promising first appearance from hooker Jag Mahal. It was also good to see a rampaging Joe Dale back in a Dons shirt.

Next Saturday sees Wimbledon host table-toppers Dorking at Barham Road. Wimbledon sit six points behind them but have two games in hand. The match will go a long way to deciding the title.

Wimbledon RFC

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