Chobham fell to a 43-19 defeat at home to Wimborne in Regional Two South Central.

It was a day of festive fun at Fowlers Wells for the visit of Wimborne on the occasion of Chobham Rugby Club’s annual Christmas lunch.

Chobham, with half of their team having graduated from the club’s mini/youth section, were facing a far more experienced side who presented a daunting physical challenge.

Chobham started well. Sam Goddard, who was imperious at the line-out throughout, set up a series of catch-and-drives from line outs which seriously discomforted the bulky Wimborne pack. No points were forthcoming as handling errors cost Chobham dearly.

On 15 minutes, Wimborne at last worked their way into Chobham territory as their scrum started to impart its considerable weight. The huge Wimborne centre, Mason, buoyed his forwards with a simple but effective game plan. The plan first came to fruition when a free kick deep in the Chobham half led to quickly recycled ball on to which Mason thundered for a try.

Chobham immediately conceded possession from the kick-off and a well-aimed up-and-under led to loose ball which was pounced on by the Wimborne scrum-half, Maidment, for a second try.

Shortly afterwards another loose ball was again pounced on by Wimborne, this time by flanker Best, who romped over from 40 yards.

At 19-0 down with little more than a quarter of the game gone, trepidation set into the hearts of the Chobham faithful. However, this Chobham team lack nothing for spirit and the next 20 minutes belonged firmly to the men in red and gold.

On 30 minutes, Chobham worked their way deep into the Wimborne half where another excellent catch-and-drive this time led to a try for Joe Gibbons and took the score to 19-7.

From the re-start, Chobham trapped Wimborne in their own 22, their clearance kicks being returned with interest by Matt King and Noah Jenkins. Eventually, Chobham set up a ruck close to the Wimborne line and, on the stroke of half-time, Pete McCain smashed his way over to make the score 19-14. Just reward for a tremendously spirited comeback.

Chobham started the second half as they finished the first. A great kick chase by Jenkins resulted in a penalty from which Chobham sensibly played for a line-out. On this occasion the catch-and-drive was halted but, from the resultant ruck, stand-in scrum-half Sam Davies guided Noah Williamson over for an excellent blind-side try. A superb conversion from wide out by Davies led to a barely believable 19-19 score. This proved to be the high point of Chobham’s day.

At around 47 minutes, Wimborne ran expansively, deep into the Chobham half. The Wimborne full-back, Fenton, impressively overcoming his surprise at receiving a pass from Mason, raced in at the left-hand corner.

Shortly afterwards Mason once again crossed over for his hat-trick, taking the score to 31-19.

Chobham came back hard, searching in vain for the try bonus point, but they were unable to establish their powerful maul.

Late in the game, Wimborne crossed the whitewash on two further occasions to take the score to 43-19.

A deserved win for Wimborne but a valuable and heartening experience for the youthful Chobham team who showed tremendous spirit and deserved at least a bonus point for their efforts.

By Tim Connolly