After a resounding 74-5 win against Law Society last time out, Old Caterhamians RFC travelled to Ashtead for their Counties 2 Surrey fixture against Old Freemens RFC.

Back in October the home fixture proved to be a close encounter with Cats coming out on top 23 -13. Old Freemens have experienced a tough season so far, they sit at the bottom of the league without a win but Cats would not be taking this match for granted.

It was stalemate for the first seven minutes until a classic Zach Uddoh try. Cats were in possession on the halfway line and the scrum half weaved past the opposition defence with two dummy passes to put five points on the board.

Moments later following an Old Freemens scrum, a George Perry interception doubled the score and Seaghan Davey added the extras to put Cats 0-12 up.

The opposition pack was proving to be a handful. From their lineout on Cats five metre line a few tackles were missed and Old Freemens number 5 went over to make it 5-12.

Undeterred, Cats were quickly back up to speed with Bayley Monesir strongly carrying from the opposition 22 metre line opening up play for Zach Uddoh to score his second of the afternoon. Seaghan Davey slotted the conversion giving Cats a 5-17 lead.

The bonus point was secured after a great solo run by George Nye. The winger made up 45 metres but was just caught close to the try line by an excellent tackle. The resulting scrum saw replacement Paul Briant pass to winger Seb Nye who evaded tackles to give Cats their fourth try and a 5-24 advantage.

Cats then went further ahead. A long kick by fly-half Seaghan Davey was caught on the bounce at speed by Seb Nye who fed George Perry for his second of the match. With the extras claimed Cats went into half time with a comfortable 5-31 lead.

The second half had a different feel about it. Old Freemens piled on the pressure straight from kick-off taking advantage of their sloping pitch. They won a penalty, then a lineout and bundled over a try fairly similar to their first to bring the score up to 10-31.

Cats were making tough work of the half but managed to power on uphill. A strong
run by fly-half Seaghan Davey led to more ground being gained by James Hanson.
Bayley Mondesir feed a marauding Will Buxton who shrugged off his tacklers to
increase Cats lead to 10-36.

Old Freemens didn’t cave in and continued to penetrate Cats half finally scoring
arguably the try of the match. The ball was won at a five-metre lineout, moved along

the backs and receiving a long pass, the replacement winger acrobatically dived for
the corner to bring up a final whistle score of 15-36.

Post match verdict saw Cats happy with their win and the bonus point but there
were moments in the second half when they had a fair bit of pressure to contend
with.

Full Time Score : Old Freemens 15- 36 Old Caterhamians

With the three teams above them in Counties 2 Surrey once again all winning, Cats remained eight points clear of fifth placed Purley John Fisher and four points behind Chipstead.

Saturday 20th of January and Cats are back at home where they face Old Wimbledonians. Should be a tight match with revenge in the air after Cats 24-17 away win back in October.