Dover Rugby Club

HOT, HARD AND HEATED. On an extremely hot April’s day, the Sharks travelled to Whitstable for their penultimate game of the season. With a mixture of regulars, youth, up-and-coming youth and a few ‘guests’ playing out of position, it made for an exciting afternoons play. From the start though it seemed that hard ground wasn’t going to be the only factor to influence the flow of the game. The ball went dead from the initial kick off but the ref who was still on the halfway couldn’t see or decide what to do. This didn’t bother the Sharks who just wanted to play rugby and at the first scrum it was clear that with the formidable front row of Revitt, Mills and Tanner, Dover were the dominant team. When the ref had finished interfering and the ball was played out to the backs, Dover made good use of the pace and experience of Savage (playing well out of position) and Kamara. Debutant Williamson made a break from the halfway line and was clear all bar Whitstable’s fullback yet decided to pop the ball out to Kamara who supported well. Both players, not accustomed to playing for the 4ths, juggled the ball between them before Williamson touched down between the posts. With Mercer adding the conversion, Dover lead 7-3 at the end of the half.
The second half didn’t start too well with Whitstable scoring a breakaway try early in the half. Dover now 7-10 down were becoming increasingly frustrated by the refereeing decisions. I can’t say I can recall a game where a scrumhalf was penalised so much for being verbal to his own players but the referee didn’t like the sound of poor Mercer’s voice. At 7-13 a few changes made. Whyte, Fields and Ross replaced Wall, Atkin and Mills and this enabled Savage to return to his normal position in the front row. Dover were all fired up by now and pack the pack made good ground, mauling uphill until McAdam popped out and went over the line. Tempers’ were now very heated and with only 7 minutes left and Dover trailing 12-13 they were unlucky to lose Savage to the ‘bin’. With a front row player gone, skipper Hover replaced himself so that Mills could return to the field. He wasn’t even off the field before he had to return as a blood replacement for Whyte who picked up a nasty cut to the eye. In the final seconds of the game, despite the ball clearly being held up, Whitstable were awarded a final try but unfortunately that is Rugby for you.
On Friday, the Club celebrate at their Club Supper with the Sharks playing their final game away to Ashford on Saturday.

Team: REVETT, MILLS, TANNER, CLEWLOW, COOPER, WALL, HOVER, McADAM, MERCER, WILLIAMSON, ATKIN, GAUGHRAN, SAVAGE, KAMARA, OLIVER, WHYTE, FIELDS, ROSS

Reported By Richard Hover