Old Colfeians (18) v (22) Dover 1st XV
Played 14th March 2009
Dover remains in fifth place in London 2 South, following a less than convincing display against mid table rivals Old Colf's. This was always going to be a difficult contest but the visitors were dour and out of kilter and they will quite rightly be left to reflect on how fortunate they were to take the 2 points.
The first half started quite briskly when after 8 minutes Dover won their lineout 40 metres out, and the ball was spread wide with inside centre Lee Tonks cutting a superb line before off loading to his midfield partner Ricky Mackintosh who raced through the gap and returned the ball to Tonks to touch down. Blair Charge added the extras. Colf's were soon back in the game, although that move started from one of many controversial decisions, when a blatant knock on was considered to have gone backwards! Dover should have taken the lead when a golden opportunity arose and with the ball only in need of being grounded, the chance evaporated and from hereon it was backs to the wall. A number of penalties followed and the hosts missed two long range attempts before they kicked their second, the deficit now being only 1 point. Dover in fairness battled hard but Colf's front three were causing great difficulty and in turn Dover's forwards were struggling for the first time in some months. Dover placed themselves under unnecessary pressure with Colf's benefiting from the possession lost from the resulting kick offs. Colf's kicked deep into Dover's half and there seemed to be some apathy in clearing the lines. A 5 metre scrum followed and with the scrum partially turned the burly Colf's 8 picked up at the base and powered his way through Dover's flimsy defence with an easy conversion to follow. Dover weathered the storm and Blair Charge slotted a penalty to narrow the gap. The half had been error strewn with far too many basic mistakes and the overall pattern of play was a stark contrast from the games played in recent months.
The second half started well with skipper Martyn Beaumont looping with Mackintosh, just inside the host's half, creating the gap to score a well worked try within a minute of the restart. The conversion was missed. Colf's responded positively and another penalty was thankfully missed, likewise with Dover shortly after. Dover's discipline was certainly not at its best and Colf's regained the lead from a penalty after 60 minutes. From the scrummage Colf's retained possession for a number of phases before their forwards drove over and the conversion was missed. With frustration setting in and no real platform being formed Dover struggled to get back in the game and once again basic errors, particularly on the 50/50 ball were made. Although weaknesses in Colf's had been found, the hosts failed to fully capitalise on them and the little ball that Dover secured was squandered Colf's missed another penalty as did Dover and the game was left in the balance with the minutes ticking away. Quite frankly Dover were lucky to still be in the game, albeit that they defended admirably to stop the flow. Dover were awarded a penalty just inside injury time and a quick tap by Buster Collins was fed to Jon Foster who saw a huge gap open on the blind side and right winger Ben Sedgwick made a terrific break to power his way through one tackle to touch down and bale Dover out of trouble with Charge kicking the conversion. Colf's were not finished and they came back strongly but were unable to score a further try. After some 7 minutes of injury time or more the official finally blew his whistle for the last time; his lungs and right arm being totally exhausted!
Senior Coach Graham Tonks commented; 'Colf's are a hard working and difficult team to beat, particularly at home. We were lucky today and my player's know that. Too much ball was lost unnecessarily and we need to address those issues before we travel to Blackheath for the Kent Cup next week'.
Team; Moore, Tomlinson, Stanley, Sluman (Robinson) Tonks D, Collins, Foster, Vick (Surendorff), Murray, Beaumont, Tonks L, Mackintosh, Phillips, Sedgwick, Charge. Sub not used Cooper.
Report by: Richard Collins
Photos by Ian Shilson (as annotated)
