In atrocious conditions in what was a hard fought match, a well-deserved win for the Seconds puts them in the right frame of mind for Boxing Day, and to go into the second half of the season on a high.
Playing up the hill first, it was apparent that Imperial’s strength was in their forwards, with the ball rarely making it past the fly half. It took 10 mins of even game play before Wellington were awarded a penalty for offside in the 22 and Ricky Marke stepped up to put over. Another penalty a few mins later in almost the same spot, and Wellington were 6-0 up.
Welly then scored a try through James Weeks on his return for Christmas from university. Marke converted to make it 13-0. Welly were fully in control now, but a few silly penalties and slack tackling, let the visitors in for a converted try.
Welly hit straight back with another try by James Weeks which was again converted to make the half time score 20-7.
In the second half Welly played downhill but the conditions worsened and the wind picked up in their faces, which made play very tough and broken. With lots of scrums, as a result of handling errors Welly battled hard but couldn’t add to their score.
Tempers frayed and when a scuffle broke out two players, one from either side were handed yellow cards. Imperial managed to exploit narrow defending to score in the top corner making it 20-12. After a further 20 minutes of even play that is how it finished.
Match reports: Mike Brewer