Academy Through to the final 16 of National Colts Cup

Tring started the game playing up the slope and into the wind and played the conditions perfectly, keeping the ball in hand and running from deep with great success. The centre pairing of Robbie Johnson and Dan Peplow looked dangerous all match long and the forwards were giving them a great platform to attack from. Some great phase play from the forwards saw an opportunity for Tring to move the ball wide and as the defence drifted across a well-timed pass from Johnson to the hard running Peplow saw him bust through one tackle and race in next to the posts untouched.

Wimbledon scored a well worked try after some dogged defence from Tring in our own 22 for a solid 10 minutes before they moved the ball wide and round the defence for the winger to score in the corner. Tring finished the half strongly though and were rewarded with an excellent forwards try from a catch and drive just outside the visitors 22, Tom Pecorini (playing his best match of the season) came up with the ball after timing his dive for the line to perfection!

Half time messages to the players were clear – keep doing the same thing in defence and play our rugby in their half.

The second half Tring dominated possession playing really accurate rugby and won an early penalty which Vice Captain Ben Hogan slotted to extend the gap to 15-5. Tring continued to play well through the forwards dominating the set piece and maintaining possession brilliantly in open play, after some sustained pressure and several hard carries up front Ben Sainsbury shrugged off 2 tacklers and carried another over the line with him to score what would turn out to be the winning try.

Wimbledon responded well and scored a consolation try at the end through their strong running 12 (thankfully he only came on with about 10 to play!) but it was too little too late as Tring continued to pin them back in Cow Lane corner through the excellent kicking of Harbridge, Hogan and Sullivan. The final whistle sparked celebrations in the 200 strong crowd and on the pitch and we now move into the last 16 of the competition.

Overall a great team performance with some outstanding individual performances from Peplow, Pecorini and Hogan and a great captains effort from Dan Fay. Really encouraging to see the boys put into practice everything we’ve been working on in training, and have now proved to themselves that they can actually start a match well! All 22 players involved on Sunday contributed something to the win and fantastic we have such strength in depth.