A last minute kick denied Colchester victory in their away match versus Wimbledon a team that the Blacks had never played before and, like them, had just been promoted. Despite dominating the scrums and lineouts the visitors’ game was too loose in open play with Wimbledon having the edge at the breakdowns.

The Blacks kicked off in dry sunny conditions and Wimbledon returned the kick to fullback Damien Brambley who was hit in the air by the home side’s prop Jesse Muir who was immediately yellow carded. This was the first of several yellow cards handed out by the referee which disrupted the flow of the game between two evenly matched teams.

Colchester pressed home their advantage in the forwards with prop James Mitchell and no. 8 Ollie White making forays into the opposition’s territory. Flanker Danny Whiteman broke clear at one stage but a strong tackle caused him to spill the ball.
Wimbledon then pressed forward and following a scrum on the Black’s 22 they moved the ball to their no.10, Bryan Croke, who kicked the ball along the ground, through the defence and touched down to the left of the posts for the first try of the game, which he also converted.

Later Colchester stole a line out in Wimbledon’s half and fly half Brett Cutbush scored a drop goal to bring the score to 7-3. Centre Tom Miller added a penalty ten minutes later bringing the score to 7-6.

Just before half-time Colchester’s Captain, Liam Pickett, left the pitch with a blood injury and Joe Flexman came off the bench. Play moved to and fro but the Wimbledon’s full back, Kieran Morris, broke through the Black’s defence to score an unconverted try, bringing the half time score to 12-6.

Matt Waddling came on for Ed Parry briefly when play resumed; it wasn’t long before Colchester conceded another penalty which stretched Wimbledon’s lead to 15-6. However Tom Miller returned the compliment for Colchester five minutes later bringing the score to 15-9.

During the next 10 minutes of this intriguing game the referee handed out yellow cards to both sides, one to Wimbledon’s number 5, Shawn Renwick, and one to Colchester’s Danny Whiteman for not releasing the ball. Despite this Colchester lifted their game and their forwards dominated the scrums and mauls forcing the hosts back to their try-line. After winning a scrum near the posts they quickly moved the ball to Cutbush, who dived over for a converted try to put the Black’s into the lead 15-16, with only 10 minutes on the clock.

Heartbreak followed however, when in the last minute of the game, centre Matt Smith was yellow-carded for a dangerous tackle and Wimbledon’s no.10 kicked a long penalty to seal the game for Wimbledon by a 2 point margin.

Steve Whiteman