Western Counties North

Wellington 14 Whitehall 13

A DRAMATIC finale to this game resulted in the Chiefs snatching victory with 10 minutes to go in an absorbing contest.

After another rolling maul was again deliberately brought down, the referee had no hesitation in awarding Welly a penalty try.

Full-back Tom Hawkings calmly stroked to kick through the sticks to give the hosts the lead for the first time in the game and one they would not squander.

The start of the match was evenly balanced with only a penalty from visiting full back Dean Weaver after five minutes being the difference.

Wellington responded tenaciously with a period of pressure which saw the visiting pack having to work extremely hard to defend the hosts’ rolling mauls.

With so many players committed to attack, there were gaps out behind and the ball was transferred quickly forward through the hands, with wing Jake Hollis eventually going past the final defender to score under the posts which Weaver converted.

Undaunted by this setback the Chiefs rallied once more and drove into their opponents 22.

From a scrum, flanker Danny Lee spotted the referee signalling the ball was out and he promptly darted forward and picked up to go over in the left hand corner.

Tom Hawkings stepped up and duly slotted the conversion which was probably the most difficult kick he had attempted, to get the home team back into contention.

The Whites started the second half determined to keep the ball up front in the deteriorating conditions and started to out scrummage the home side.

They were quickly rewarded with another penalty which the steady Weaver converted despite the increasingly slippery surface.

The visitors continued to press forward and it took some immense rear-guard action to keep them at bay, with every single player putting their bodies on the line with some really heavy hits.

The stranglehold was finally broken and Welly made headway out behind, with stalwart Tim Jenkinson coming on at scrum half and Paddy Dean moving into the fly half berth for the injured Matt Parsons.

It is no lie to say that youth has the advantage of fitness and Wellington started to stretch the tiring visitors at the breakdown once more.

With about 12 minutes remaining, Whitehall fly half, Reuben Feaver, who had been involved in a considerable amount of the action both in attack and defence, was caught at a ruck illegally handling on the floor and was yellow carded.

This was followed shortly afterwards by another sin binning for the visitors as they struggled to keep the Wellington pack at bay.

Finally, Welly’s pressure was rewarded and after the penalty try had been awarded, Hawkings held his nerve to give the home side victory by just one point.

Team: Lee Wadham, Joe Dyke, Anthony Gill, Chris Kitto, Cameron Venn, Danny Lee, Jack Woodland, Micky Norman, Ben Price, Matt Parsons, Andrew Bellamy, Patrick Jarman, George Hodgson, Alex Johnson, Tom Hawkings. Reps: Luke Brereton, Tim Jenkinson, Liam Phillips