Woking left wondering what might have been following late call offs

Reigate had beaten Woking earlier in the season when they played the return fixture, travelling on the day with just 13 players to fulfil their league commitments. However, history repeated itself as a series of late call offs prior to kick off meant that once again the hosts had to take to the field with an under-strength team and players playing out of position.

Kicking off into a strong wind Woking started poorly, visibly disheartened by the events prior to kick off. Reigate quickly used their 2-man advantage and the strong wind in their favour to work their way up to 10m from the Woking line. From the resulting ruck one of the big Reigate forwards picked up and simply strolled through the Woking pack unopposed. A further 2 tries soon followed as visibly buoyed by their early score and numerical advantage.

Midway through the half Woking finally got on the front foot and after several phases of forward play, John Dickie ran in from 25m out as the Reigate failed to stop his charging run. Around the same time Woking numbers were boosted to 14 players with a late arrival of a player who had been held up at work.

Having now scored and, with an additional player reducing Reigate's numerical advantage to just one, the expected Woking fightback did not materialise as the home side continued to struggle through the inability to win their own ball, lack of organisation and poor defending.

Half time Woking 5 Reigate 41.

Half time allowed Woking to regroup and reorganise. With some home truths ringing in their ears the hosts came out with a point to prove and pride to play for. To a man Woking came out a different proposition. Aggressive in the tackle and turning ball over the side was unrecognisable from the team that had started so badly. Leading by example were Ben Dinsdale and KJ Nissen who hunted the ball down and opposing players down with relish. At times tempers flared and Reigate now knew they had a game. Both sides can be complimented for the competitive nature of the match without it ever boiling over. In part this can be attributed to a very good performance by the referee.

Woking did score their second try of the afternoon midway through the second half through KJ Nissen. They also missed several opportunities to score more which would have seen them gain a bonus point their second half performance deserved. As Woking tired Reigate were able to take advantage capitalising on handling errors which allowed them to score a couple of breakaway tries.

Final score Woking 10 Reigate 53

Jim McGiven, Woking Club Captain “I’m super proud of the boys that played today. Watching from the side line I even forgot we were a man down in the second half. The last minute call offs killed us today and disrupted the warm up. We are a club and need to stand together. I am confident that as players return from injury and if others make themselves available for training and matches we can have a good second half to the season”.