Following a couple of last minute change of plans, Saffron Walden were pleased to receive a last minute invitation to travel up to Peterborough rfc for a Friday evening game.
With the normal horrendous Bank Holiday traffic on the A14 most of the team arrived with about 30mins to spare so the warm up was curtailed, but playing under lights always creates a good atmosphere and the guys rarely have the chance to do this.
However from the kick off the home team started brightly and with Walden looking rusty P'boro deservedly opened the score with a well worked try creating an overlap for their No 13 to ghost in round the outside and towards the posts to go 7 points up after 5 mins.
However over the next few minutes Walden were gradually finding their way into the game. Then after 15 mins they found themselves deep inside the P'boro half and a couple of well worked phases saw the ball fed down the line to right winger Villmoni Devuto making his Saffron Walden debut and what a start it was as he side stepped his opposite number and ran past the covering defence to score a well worked try.
It was fitting the the next try was scored by a Walden forward as No8 Nik Baker picked up a loose ball and dived over the line to underline the fact that Walden forwards were beginning to dominate the set piece. 14 -7 after 22 mins.
Another try by winger Villy just before half time as Walden worked the ball wide after several phases of possession left the half time score at 19 -7.
5 minutes into the second half saw Walden working the ball towards the centre with a couple of simple phases, then a sudden switch of play saw the ball passed down the blindside and hooker Martin Baldwin found himself on the left wing and he used his pace to score in the corner. 26 – 7.
A few minutes later some scrappy play deep inside the home 22 saw Peterborough win the ball in the loose but then fail to clear it and again Nik Baker was the first to react and only had a few metres to run to dot the ball over the line for his second try. 31 – 7.
Although Peterborough were trailing they never gave up and were testing Walden's defence which looked very good and the pressure they put on the home attack paid off when centre Mark Kimberley intercepted a pass sprinting under the posts from 50 metres 38 – 7.
Then another debutant try this time for Bobby Elston as he got the ball on the left wing and beat a couple of tackles to score wide out 45 – 7.
Peterborough scored next with 10 mins left on the clock as they broke down the centres and worked the ball down field to score in the corner. 45 – 12.
Walden had the final say when unsurprisingly Villy got his hat trick as he found himself in space and cruised over to take the Walden tally above 50 points leaving Full back Tom Price to round off a fine kicking display to leave the final score at 52 -12.
A good all round team performance as the hard work during the summer by both the players and New Coaching team starts coming together.
Great to see a good front row performance by all four making the trip, Steve Mugridge, Harry Stocking, Martin Baldwin and Rob Nolan who was named man of the match both for his on field performance and his commitment driving up from Plymouth to just make the start of the game.
Another hard pre season test next week when Walden entertain old rivals Enfield at Henham for a 3pm kick off.