Abbey hold off late surge to gain bonus point win

ABBEY gained a bonus point victory at Wallingford, though they had to withstand a late rally by the home side to ensure the win last Saturday.

The visitors dominated possession and territory for long periods and led 24-7 after 50 minutes, but they failed to convert their superiority into points after this. The result takes Abbey up to fifth place in Counties 1 Tribute Ale Southern North with five wins and five defeats. Wallingford opened the scoring after six minutes when flanker Ben McDermott intercepted a pass and scored a try under the posts. Outside half Peter Clayton-Chance converted, but Abbey were soon on level terms.

Second row Jeremy Knights charged over for a try three minutes later, with outside half Reuben Norville adding a good conversion from wide on the left. After this, Abbey dominated the rest of the first half, with flanker Matt Campbell looking particularly impressive in attack. They added tries from hooker Zac Mayo and prop Tom Wilkinson, with Norville converting the second of these. Wallingford made occasional breaks, thanks mainly to centre Jake Aspinall, but Abbey were good value for their 19-7 half-time lead.

Abbey continued to dominate for much of the second half. A superb long pass from Norville sent winger Alex Ashford to the line for the bonus point try, but this proved to be their final score of the game. Even when Clayton-Chance was shown a yellow card the visitors could not convert pressure into points.

Wallingford scored their second try following a line-out drive, and just before the end of the game number eight Tom Windibank scored wide on the left. Clayton-Chance was unable to add touchline conversions to either try.