Sat 13 Nov 2010
Wallingford travelled to the south coast with a team ravaged by injury and unavailability. To illustrate the scale of unavailability, this is a team of unavailable players: Monk, Tom Hill, Ed Jenkins, Mike Turner, Paul Lewis, Will Woodward, Pete Holton, Pete Thorns, Derek Viljoen, Henry Pooler, Johnny Collett, Matt Dawes, Lee Lewis, Richard Turner, Tom Woodward – with the exception of Woodward, a very strong team (I jest). Regardless, the visitors still took a side strong enough team to win against their Dorset opponents. In selection, Marcus Wiltshire started on the flank, Simon Lazell came in at prop, Dan Stalker stepped into scrum-half, and Ciaran Farmer made his first team debut on the wing.
Going into the game, Wallingford knew what to expect from their hosts, with the driving maul being the weapon of choice for Swanage.
In the opening exchanges, Swanage dominated possession, but due to good work from the visitors back row, especially Marcus, Wallingford frequently turned the ball over at the breakdown. Despite this, Swanage were to get the first points on the board, as they converted a simple penalty after Wallingford were penalised at the breakdown.
With possession at a premium, Wallingford had to defend well on several occasions, and then, against the run of play, were to score the first try of the game. With the ball turned over yet again, Henry Venners kicked wide for the chasing Smith, who judged the bounce perfectly as he raced past his opposite number. As the cover defence came across, Smith passed the ball back inside to the supporting Venners who powered over to finish the move that he started. Henderson converted.
Shortly afterwards, Wallingford added three more points after Swanage were penalised for holding on, as the score moved on to 10-3.
From then on, things started to go wrong for the visitors, as ill-discipline began to creep in. With the aggressive Swanage pack frequently getting away with violent conduct, Wallingford grew frustrated as the referee began to turn against them. The indiscipline played into Swanage’s hands as they kicked for the corners and began to apply concerted pressure via their rolling maul. Despite valiant defence, Swanage eventually forced their way over to take the score to 10-8, which it remained till half-time.
With the set-piece struggling against a well-drilled pack, Wallingford were struggling to get a foot-hold in the game, as the home side continued to dominate possession.
The opening quarter of an hour of the second half was evenly matched, as when Wallingford did get their hands on the ball, they looked dangerous, notably Stalker, who made several darts through the Swanage defence. But as the half went on, the increasingly erratic referee lost patience with the Wallingford side, sending Smith to the bin for jumping the gun on an intercept.
But the home side, despite several golden opportunities, failed to convert their advantage during this ten minute period.
But soon after Smith’s return, Swanage finally got the try they deserved, when their centre burst through a gap in the Wallingford defence, to set up a score under the posts which was converted. With ten minutes left, as Wallingford looked to strike back, Swanage scored the decisive try as their winger dived over in the corner following yet another rolling maul. In the dying minutes, Dorian was sin-binned for handbags, as the ref lost his patience, before he somewhat suddenly finished the game with Swanage having an attacking scrum five meters out.
Swanage were deserved winners on the day, but there were plenty of positives on the day for the visitors, who defended well against the Swanage maul which will put most teams under pressure this season, and there were good performances by Wiltshire and Stalker.
- Blaszko 2. Matt Chapman 3. Layzell 4.D.Jenkins 5.T.Rowberry (P.Wiltshire) 6.M.Wiltshire 7.Mike Chapman 8.Jeffreys (C) 9.Stalker 10.Henderson 11. Farmer 12. Brettel 13. Kelly 14. Smith 15.Venners
