Dover 2nd XV (12) v Canterbury (13)
Dover 2nds came up against strong opposition in Canterbury this week
at Crabble. Dover kicked off and started the much brighter team,
with the pack dominating in every department. Dover secured good ball
from rucks and mauls for stand in captain Denning to feed a new look
back line consisting of Holdsworth and Adams. The backs looked
bright early on and only good defence stopped them from really hurting
Canterbury. The scrum was dominated early on with Wilkins and
Hewer in the front row big factors of this. The first try of
the day came from a goods back move where Kamara made room off of good
hands from the new centre partnership for Dean to race over for a well
earned try. Marsh back at fly half kicked from way out wide to
add the two extra points.
Canterbury had a first half chance which was squandered by there winger
as he dropped the ball before touching down. A let off for Dover.
The half time whistle went and after some encouraging words from injured
Captain Price after an excellent first half performance the Sharks
took back to the field.
Canterbury came out the stronger team, as was expected in reply to
Dover’s first half domination. Good running from their
No 8 and inside centre caused the Dover defence problems but for the
majority of the half they were contained by good tackling from Landman,
Chambers and Howard. When Dover did get the ball Gill and Rix
made the hard yards and Marsh and Holdsworth expertly cleared their
lines. The pressure from Canterbury mounted and Dover’s
defence eventually gave. One missed tackle and Canterbury scored
a deserved try. The fly half missed the conversion. This
woke Dover up and from the kick off Canterbury was pinned on their
5 metre line. The pressure mounted and the away team gave away
a penalty. The penalty move was set up and Kimble brutally forced
his way through 4 players to score an awesome individual try. Conversion
unsuccessful.
Canterbury hit straight back and after two missed tackles there second
row was in for a very soft try. This bought the score to 12-10
to Dover with 5 mins to play. Once again Dover went straight
back down the other end with purpose but a few silly mistakes cost
them possession and the home side found themselves back in their own
half. The Canterbury back drove on well in mid field and the
ball was passed to their fly half who successfully converted a drop
goal attempt to put Canterbury 12-13 up. Dover were now furious
as they had let there lead go and as a result camped themselves on
the Canterbury try line for the remainder of the game. The pressure
showed as a penalty was awarded, which Kimble took quickly and raced
over to score what he thought to be his second try of the game but
it was disallowed by the referee. The penalty was brought back
the mark where a rushed decision was made by the team to run the ball
and go for the try, to no avail. Canterbury regained possession
and cleared the ball into touch to end a hard fought game, which Dover
did not deserve to lose.
Next week Dover is split into two teams Under 30’s and Over 30’s
to take on two Duke of York teams in a remembrance
weekend tribute
game at Crabble.
Report by: Paul Cairns
