Wisbech Rugby Club beat Stewarts & Lloyds in RFU Counties 2 National Champions Cup

The Wisbech Rugby Club 1st XV beat Stewarts & Lloyds 10-3 in the opening round of the RFU Counties 2 National Champions Cup.

Tries from wing Jon Turner and fly-half Gerhard Wessels secured a hard-fought away victory for the men in red.

Matters were complicated when captain and fly-half Jack Malkin had to withdraw on the day due to illness, forcing Wisbech director of rugby Leonard Veenendaal to hastily adjust the starting line-up.

The men in red started on the front foot with a try from Jon Turner. From a dominant scrum, Wisbech attacked with sleek handling through the backs – the ball found left wing Turner, who beat two defenders before powering through two more to score in the left hand corner.

The conversion was missed, with the away side leading 5-0 13 minutes into the game.

Stewarts & Lloyds fought back, stringing several attacking phases together and testing the Wisbech defence, who to the man stood firm before eventually giving away a penalty.

The home side opted to kick for post to reduce the visitor’ lead to two points. The scoreline would remain locked at 5-3 going into the break.

Stewarts & Lloyds started the second half hungry for victory and their intensity again tested the Men in Reds’ defence. Veenendaal will be pleased with how the team managed the threat throughout the half.

In the 64th minute Wisbech made their pressure count when fly-half Gerhard Wessels rounded off a number of attacking phases, beating the covering defence to cross the try line in the right hand corner.

The conversion went wide, leaving the score at 10-3 to the visitors and setting up a frantic final 16 minutes.

The home side capitalised on a Wisbech yellow card, heaping on the pressure and again looking dangerous, making life difficult for Wisbech. They had to dig in deep, but showed tenacto withstand the hosts’ advances.

Stewarts & Lloyds looked to have broken through in the closing stages when they attacked down the right hand side with a three-on-one overlap for what should have been a certain try, only for the veteran Raimondas Vinksna, now playing on the left wing, to snuff out the threat with a clever interception and turning defence into attack.

Stand-in skipper Wessels, who showed great leadership throughout, managed the game well as Wisbech closed out the match to claim the spoils at the final whistle.

Veenendaal said: “With such a changed side and losing Jack on the morning, it was always going to be a big ask of the boys, but we kept our structure, stuck to our patterns and our game plan prevailed.

“Our set piece, defence and tempo throughout the game were without question the foundations of our win.

“Our tight five were immense, Chris Parry taking in the lineouts was outstanding along with Skippy Parsons, who defended tirelessly for the full 80 minutes.

“Open side flanker Bull Tagicakiverata and Will Boreham were wrecking balls both in attack and defence, with scrum-half Harry Peters’ clever tactical kicking played very well.

“Sam Anderson and James Napier, who had to switch positions prior to kick off, were solid throughout and when we lost Napier to injury, the bench, as they have done all season, yet again delivered.

“Veterans Raimondas Vinksna and Jon Turner were outstanding today but our player-coach Gerhard Wessel’s leadership, game management and cool head earned him the Wisbech Round Table man of the match award.”

Wisbech will have a bye weekend before their next action on April 15, with the venue and opponents to be confirmed.