Reality check for Woking as visitors take the spoils

Playing into a strong wind they couldn't have got off to a worse start. Starting the match, Woking kicked off to Haslemere who set a solid platform. They then exposed an overlap on the left-hand side to score under the posts within 2 minutes.

Falling well below the standards that they had set during the opening month of the season captain Jacob Woods read the riot act in effort to galvanise his. The skipper’s words had the desired impact as Woking settled into the game. Woods once again led from the front with strong running, aided by Dave Garvey and Lucas Romelfanger, all supplied by good ball from the half back combination of Jordan Baker and Mark Rose.

This allowed Woking to get into Haslemere territory. Unfortunately, all too often Woking went into contact without support which allowed Haslemere to turn over ball and utilise a dangerous counterattack. It was only down to some fine defensive play from full back, and man of the match, Marc McGiven that saved Woking on more than one occasion. Eventually the home sides resistance was broken as Haslemere grabbed two late tries before half time.

Half time: Woking 0 - 19 Haslemere

With the wind behind them in the second half, Woking managed to make progress deep into Haslemere territory. As the hosts performance improved Ross Henson continued his fine form following his man of the match performance on the wing as he looked dangerous whenever he had the ball in hand. There was a devastating break by centre Keihlan Watson, linking with compatriot Nissen that eventually saw hooker Nearn bundled into touch in the Haslemere 22.

Despite Woking’s best efforts the visitors continued to turnover numerous attacks which in turn created pressure with their dangerous counter attacking style. Eventually, Woking were made to pay as Haslemere scored a fourth try for their efforts. In attempt to make a difference, debutant Josh Claydon came on for Baker, Shaun Gilbert for Richard Benn and Matt Brennan for Phil Price all to no avail.

Final score: Woking 0 - 26 Haslemere (4 tries, 3 conv).

Jacob Woods reflecting on the performance after the game "Although the score doesn't reflect it, we played some good rugby at times against an experienced and well drilled Haslemere team. There are a lot of good individual performances, however we need to focus on playing as a team if we are to have a serious shot at pushing for promotion this year. We have two tricky games now on the road so will regroup at training on Tuesday and take it from there."

Man of the Match: Marc McGiven

Next Match:  22/10/22 Wandsworthians RFC (A) 3pm