With the long-awaited return of skipper and talisman Will Joyce from his South Asian travels, the Wanderers made light work of a physical Barton Hill side.

The try fest started after only 4 minutes, as Tom Doherty broke the line and went over for a converted try after linking up with some good support from Scrum Half Owain Davies.

2 minutes later a monster cross-field kick from Fly-Half Luke McMullan resulted in a 50-22, which was taken quickly by the chasing Jamie Stevens and resulted in James Tayler dotting down for the second converted try.

On the 10 minute mark, Clifton had their third. A penalty advantage saw McMullan place a deftly weighted cross-field kick into the hand of Stevens, who went over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Straight from the resulting kick off, the Wanderers stretched the play again and Harry Leigh went over for his first of the game, once again converted by McMullan.

Barts then enjoyed a bit of a purple patch in terms of possession, but the line speed and hart hitting Clifton wall prevented them making any inroads into the visitor’s half.

On the 30 minute mark, Stevens went over for his second of the day after a Chris McCann line break and slick handling from Owain Davies and Will Joyce. Once again, the try was converted by McMullan.

Joyce then enjoyed a rare line break of his own 5 minutes later but didn’t quite have the gas to go over himself, instead pulling off an audacious offload for Doherty to go over for his second, converted by McMullan.

On the stroke of half time, Leigh went over for his second after some more slick handling from McMullan and Tayler, McMullan converting to take his tally for the day to 12 points.

Although scoreless, the Wanderers continued to pile pressure on Barts in the 20 minutes of the second half before the match was unfortunately stopped due to a serious neck injury to a Barts player.

A gentleman’s agreement saw the game halted and the score left to stand as a 47-0 win to the Wanderers.

Despite all of the tries being scored after some incisive and structured backs play, the dog work of the forwards cannot be overlooked as each player punched well above their weight against the larger Barton Hill boys.

Best wishes to the injured Barton Hill player and hopefully his recovery goes smoothly.

Next week sees the Wanderers face off in another local derby against Old Redcliffians 2’s that is sure to be the premier action due to the rest week for both clubs 1st XV’s.

Try Scorers -
Tom Doherty x 2
James Tayler
Jamie Stevens x 2
Harry Leigh x 2

Conversions -
Luke McMullan x 6

MOTM -
Luke McMullan