Cobham record back-to-back league wins in high scoring contest against Heath

njmelton77
5d
3 min read

Cobham will have been buoyed by their success the previous week and welcomed Haywards Heath for their first home fixture of the season on Saturday (13 September). There was a return for Captain Lippiatt and Andrew Murphy in the front row and Fin Savill in the backline, while Tom Incledon and Inis McDonagh made their home debuts.

Winger McDonagh nearly created history by scoring Cobham’s fastest league try, when he collected the ball from the kick-off and was brought down just yards from the line after only 8 seconds. However, it only took another two minutes before Cobham did open the scoring, when possession and territory provided by Murphy enabled Penfold to release the backline with Savill backing himself to break through the defence and touch down. Dellapina floated the conversion just wide (5-0).

Heath finally managed to gain some possession, but Cobham wanted to be playing their rugby in the opposition half. After Wilf Saywell was held-up, O'Leary Penfold and Savill combined to take Cobham back to the Heath line, where centre Incledon set-up Captain Lippiatt for the try that Dellapina converted (12-0).

Within minutes, Penfold's quick tap penalty provided Incledon with his third try of the season and Dellapina added the extras once again (19-0). On a day when the weather couldn't make up its mind whether it still wanted to be Summer or Autumn, McDonagh intercepted the ball and offloaded to Penfold who extended the lead by claiming the bonus point try that Dellapina converted (26-0).

Cobham appeared to be wholly dominant, but with torrential Autumn rain coming down it was Heath centre Jack Lucas who took the perfect line to run through and touch down under the posts. Fly half Tom Wharton added the conversion (26-7). Stung by that score, Cobham returned to the Heath twenty-two and from a scrum close to the line, number 8 Jake McQuade skilfully retained the ball at the base of the set-piece for a push over try, which Dellapina converted (33-7). McQuade also featured in the final score of the half as he fed the ball out to the backline and Innis once again unselfishly provided Savill with his second of the afternoon (38-7).

The projected final score at half-time would have been those points doubled, but that’s not how rugby works as we well know. The first try of the second half saw Heath 12 Lucas reprise Penfold's tap penalty for Cobham, resulting in a soft try that Wharton converted (38-14).

Director of Rugby Billy Davison called for reaction from Cobham and that came through the safe hands of Porter in the lineout, who provided Murphy with the ball to offload to Penfold and clear run in wide out. The rain ensured it could not be converted (43-12), but Cobham added an eighth try from a kick through that Saywell collected for the score (48-14).

Credit to Heath who never let their heads go down. They responded with another tap penalty, converted try (48-21), but Cobham once again responded with Incledon scoring his second and Dellapina converting to bring up the half century of points (55-21). The visitors responded yet again with a couple of powerful drives, resulting in two converted tries (55-35). With the match drawing to a close it was appropriate that winger McDonagh scored his debut try 8 seconds from the end of the game, with Dellapina converting to complete the scoring. Final score, 62-35.

Cobham will no doubt reflect on allowing Haywards Heath back into the match, although the final scoreline says a lot about Heath's resilience. Grateful thanks to Jack Elford the club's new volunteer match photographer for capturing the action of this 97-point match.

Cobham are away to Basingstoke this weekend (20 September) in a Cup match, before resuming their league fixtures away to KCS on 4 October. The last time those two teams played each other, Cobham won 82-31 so just the 113 points to report!

The Cobham 2nd XV lost a tight-fought encounter with Chobham 2nd XV 21-24.

Cobham 1st XV Squad:-

1. Chris Lippiatt (Capt.)

2. Andrew Murphy

3. Ryan Aujla

4. Hugh Farmer

5. Will O’Leary

6. Louis Porter

7. Tom Davison

8. Jake McQuade

9. Rory Penfold

10. Connor Dellapina