SWF away win against Campion in the North East London Division 2

Woodham travelled to Romford to play a side who have won their last two games, having lost their last 4 games and in need of a win. Woodham knew they were in for a hard game and this seemed evident when in the first 10 minutes the Campion centre broke through the middle to score under the posts to take a 7-0 lead.

The game went from bad to worse when Ollie Trigg left the field with a collar bone injury. Campion were very dangerous at this time and a move saw them go the length of the pitch and camp on the Woodham line. Great line defence kept Campion out but Woodham lost the influential Joe Dukelow for 10 minutes for not releasing the ball. Woodham started to get into the game and a penalty by Brown was answered by a penalty for Campion which made the score 10-3. Woodham were now getting supremacy in the scrum and contact area and a number of forward drives especially from Liam Searles and Scott Turner gave Brown the space to use his pace to score Woodham’s first try which he converted to make the score 10-10.

With Woodham now in command another try from Scott was inevitable which was converted again by Brown to make the score 10-17. An off the ball incident saw Lewis Gilbert leave the field with a blood injury to be replaced by Ricky Turner and Campion showed how dangerous their attack was, especially with line out dominance, which led to the last try of the half to make the score 15-17 at half time.

Woodham now had to play against the wind and up the slope but had the next score after drives from Lewis and Liam and a career first off load from Duggan which saw Brown score his send try but the conversion was missed leaving the score 15-22. The Woodham coach Tony Woods made an inspirational change at this time bringing Jack Reeve on and ignoring a 3 man overlap, scored with his first touch of the game, making the score 15-27. Woodham now were relying on defence and turn overs by Joe Dukelow and James Wilson kept Campion at bay. Skipper Ryan Marshall also produced a try line turn over which was followed by a length of the pitch kick . Now it was Campion’s turn in this see saw game to put Woodham on the back foot and score a try and conversion which made the score 22-27.

The game was now in the balance and it was Woodham’s turn to dig deep and a score from Liam which was converted by Adam made the game safe with the score at 22-34 and only 10 minutes to go. Campion were now only playing for bonus points and their job was made easier when Jordan Philips was yellow carded for an awesome tackle on his opposite number who unfortunately was dummy runner. Campion scored the try they needed with the last play of the game to make the final score 27-34 and give them two bonus points. Woodham were worthy winners with the added benefit of a winning bonus point.

Campion had the advantage in the lineout and their backs looked dangerous all afternoon but it was the scrum and driving runs which gave Woodham the eventual supremacy to secure the win. Tony Woods was please with the overall performance but especially the defence and skipper Ryan Marshall was elated with his first win as captain. It was impossible to name a man of the match with a good all round team performance and every member contributing but a special mention to the back row, Sam Sharpe and Adam Brown who all had outstanding games.

Report by Barry Gittos.