Tries from Joe Ridgley and Matt Whitaker combined with a determined and disciplined performance as a whole by the team secured Sutton and Epsom a hard fought victory over Chobham at Fowlers Wells on Saturday.
Sutton welcomed back Pete Matthews to the team for the first time in a year but the injury curse continued as both Steve Burton and Frankie Murray, with a nasty head wound, only played a truncated part in the proceedings. Murray’s injury required Matthews to move to fly half and Joe Ridgley to switch from flanker to inside centre.
Chobham, who had been replaced at the top of the table by Sutton the week before last, dominated the early exchanges with scrum half McDonald particularly prominent. After the teams had exchanged penalties Sutton struggled to secure substantive possession and some fine handling by the Chobham back line propelled winger Devitt across the try line and McDonald obliged with the conversion. Sam Hurley added his second penalty of the afternoon but Sutton were penalised again for straying offside in defence to allow the hosts to maintain their seven point advantage.
Chobham relied heavily upon the driving maul as their main attacking ploy but Sutton’s defence stood firm with some excellent first line tackling led by Joe Ridgley and Steve Munford. However Sutton had rarely threatened the Chobham try line until the last few minutes of the half.
Aaron Philip pounced upon a loose ball and he followed up his kick forward but was tackled agonisingly close to the line. Sutton produced quick ball through a number of phases as they swept across the pitch and Joe Ridgley slipped through a gap in the defence to score on the far right hand side. Sam Hurley’s excellent conversion meant that half concluded with the teams on level terms.
The hosts might have felt that this was less than they deserved as a reward for their possession and territorial dominance.
Following his injury problems last season, Matt Whitaker has returned to his barnstorming best and he turned the game to Sutton’s advantage in the 45th minute.
From the back of a scrum he burst through a gap in the Chobham defence and sprinted over 20 metres to score almost unchallenged under the posts. Whitaker has now scored tries in his last 5 appearances. After an easy conversion, Sam Hurley added another penalty to put some daylight between the teams.
Chobham, however, were in no mood to relinquish their long standing home record and reverted to their preferred driving maul to put Sutton’s defence under immense pressure.
On two occasions Sutton managed to hold up the ball when the maul had crossed the try line and on a third Aaron Philip ripped the ball from a Chobham attacker when a try seemed a certainty. But the pressure began to tell as Sutton lost Tariq Al Khaldi to a yellow card and yet another driving maul resulted in a try for prop McDougall and the subsequent conversion reduced Sutton’s lead to three points, with 10 minutes remaining. This was opportune time for Sutton to enjoy their most consistent spell of the match.
Some accurate play by the forwards to retain possession through numerous phases effectively closed out the match and secured a notable victory. Chobham are a well drilled and organised team that play to their strengths and their record over the last three seasons speaks for itself. The quality of Sutton’s defence in the second half was of the highest order and this result will attract more than passing attention from other teams that have their eyes upon the promotion and play off places.
Despite this win Sutton slip one place in the league standings thanks to Guildford’s bonus point win over Havant. Sutton are due to travel to Guildford on November 14.
League rugby takes a break again this Saturday for the World Cup Final and Sutton return to action to host Gosport at Rugby Lane on November 7, kick off is at 2.30 p.m.
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