Dover 2nds 48 v 19 Folkestone 2nds
Dover played Folkestone at Crabble on Saturday in their second league
game of the season.
Dover started well in the hot weather applying early pressure on the
Folkestone pack. They were rewarded with an early penalty which Marsh
converted.
Dover took their time to settle in the match and handling errors cost
them two opportunities to open the scoring, but it did not take long
for the home side to put together a good move to score the opening
try. An excellent break in midfield from Cattermole gave the backs
some space to work in. Simple hands down the line led to Blair scoring,
Marsh converted.
Dover scored another try soon after through O’ Dell. Holland
managed to create some space by cutting inside from the wing and drawing
two defenders. He then passed to O’ Dell who outpaced the last
defender to score. Marsh failed with the conversion but it put Dover
15-0 up at half time.
Folkestone started the second half strongly and scored within 5 minutes
of the restart after fielding a chip and chase from Dover they managed
to break through the defence. The try was converted. 15-7.
Dover responded immediately with a good try from Holland. The backs
ran one of their moves with great effect. O’ Dell broke the defensive
line and with only the full back to beat he drew him and passed to
Holland who strolled over the line. March converted to restore Dover’s
lead.
Folkestone came straight back at Dover. Good defensive pressure lead
to a handling error in midfield. The Folkestone number 12 beat two
defenders well to score a good try which was then converted to make
the score 22 – 14.
After some stern words from captain Chambers Dover began to take control.
The pack rumbled up the field and approached the visitors 22. From
here Kimble broke through but was brought down on the try line. Quick
ball from Denning down the blind side let Phillips walk over un-contested.
From the resultant kick off Howard fielded the kick off and beat 4
defenders and drove deep into the Folkestone half. Howard was tackled
by the full back but did well to pop the ball off the floor to May
who ran in the try uncontested. Marsh converted to make the score 34-14.
Dover continued to dominate, running in two more tries before the end
of the game. The first was from Blair who latched onto a good pass
from Marsh and then out-muscled his opposite man to score. The second
came from Phillips which was set up by an awesome run from O’ Dell
who broke two tackles before giving an inside ball to Phillips who
slid over. Marsh converted both.
Folkestone stuck to the cause well and scored a good push over try
in the last play of the game.
This made the final score 48-19 to Dover.
Dover plays Deal/Betteshanger next Saturday at Crabble in a league
game.
Dover 2nd’s – Bowditch, Chambers, Kimble, Cattermole, Gill,
Landman, May, Howard, Denning, Marsh, Adams, Phillips, O’ Dell,
Holland, Kamara, Blair, Cairns, Porter.
Reported by Paul Cairns
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