ALISDAIR Hamilton-Wilkes was sent off as Woking were beaten 32-3 at London French last Saturday in Counties Five Surrey.

He got his marching orders for retaliation with ten minutes remaining.

Woking’s defeat to a side who started the day level on points with them was their first in three games.

And skipper Jacob Woods felt the result was not a true reflection of his team’s ability.

Woods said: “Today wasn’t a true reflection of our quality and I’m disappointed. 

“With key players missing or unavailable, the boys who played gave everything – but it wasn’t enough. 

“We’ve got a week off now to recover and get ready for our final two fixtures before the Christmas break. 

“We’ve already exceeded our points tally for last season so we’ve made some huge steps forward to be pleased with.”

Woking could name a squad of only 16 players for the match in Barnes.

And the hosts took control of the early exchanges as they looked to move the ball out wide at every opportunity. 

However, solid Woking defence and poor handling from the French back-line in tricky conditions meant the early storm was weathered without too much of a scare.

Gradually the Woking forwards started to get on top, dominating the scrums and winning penalties at the breakdown thanks to good play from the back row of Jake Sines, Woods and Josh Claydon, the visitors’ man of the match.

However, all the good work was undone by Woking’s inability to win their own line-out ball at crucial times. 

Things got worse when Woking lost back row Sines to an ankle injury which led to another reshuffle of the pack.

Midway through the first half, French scored their opening try through a combination of good interplay between forwards and backs plus poor Woking defence. 

The conversion was missed but a penalty was added a  few minutes later to make the score 8-0.

Fired up, Woking enjoyed their best spell of the half as Woods, Claydon and prop Joe Griggs took the fight to the  hosts with some hard and direct carries that punched holes in the defence. 

As the pressure built, French conceded a penalty in front of the posts for offside at the ruck. Mark Rose kicked three points.

On the stroke of half-time Woking conceded another try.

More good interplay between the Londoners’ forwards and backs kept the ball away from the strength of the Woking pack and resulted in a touchdown that was converted, leaving French 15-3 up at the break.

Woking tried to take the game to their opponents at the start of the second half.

But the visitors’ dominance in the scrums was negated by their inability to win line-out ball. 

Up front Woking were more than holding their own and frustrating the opposing pack. 

At times this boiled over with late tackles and off-the-ball incidents which were going unnoticed.

As Woking tired, unable to enjoy the depth of bench they had available in previous weeks, French took advantage to throw the ball around and score two more tries. 

With several players continuing to battle through injury, Woking were struggling to contain their younger and fitter opponents who had numerous replacements and were able to rotate.

Undeterred and inspired by Woods, Rose and Claydon, Woking got into the home half.

Despite causing problems, Woking never really threatened the French try-line.

Instead the travellers conceded possession or field position through mistakes, indiscipline or as a result of good defence.

After the red card, French took advantage of having an extra man to score another try as Woking failed to deal with a kick in behind.