Gravesend (22) v (19) Dover U14s
Played on 14/12/2008
After resisting early Gravesend pressure the game settled down and gradually Dover’s forwards were able to contain their opponents. The main threat came from the G’s back line. Notable last ditch tackles form Gibbs and the restored Conor Allen kept the score at 0-0 until surprisingly Dover failed to hold their own scrum in front of the posts allowing G’s to score a dubious touchdown in the corner for 5-0 after 16 minutes. This must have unsettled Dover as only two minutes later G’s flying winger outsped the Dover backs sprinting from his own half uphill to score for an easy conversion 12-0. At this time all the good early work seemed wasted but Dover fought back well and after sustained forward play Clark forced the ball over G’s line, 12-7 at half time and Dover were deservedly back in the game.
The second half began well for a resurgent Dover playing uphill this time were unfortunate to have a try disallowed but full back Gibbs scored a good try on the burst to give Dover a 12-14 lead. It is often said that a team is most vulnerable when they have just scored and so it proved again as G’s threw themselves downhill to score two quick tries in 12th and 15th minutes albeit one had a suspicion of forward pass but again good work undone, score 22-14.
Dover’s forwards continued to push hard up the hill and Johnstone touched down in the corner after excellent team play to close the gap to 22-19 with 4 minutes remaining. The push continued to the end but finally time ran out for the away team.
This was a thoroughly entertaining game which could have gone either way. Dover put in sufficient effort to have claimed the win but fell short by a small margin.
All the players can take full credit but the forwards can share the ‘men of the match’ title this week.
Team playing were: Joe Bissett, Tom Johnstone, Tom Saunders, Luke Allen, Conor Allen, Samuel Harrison (Captain), Tom Clark, James Moynan, Joe Tonkin, Ben Spurgeon, Samuel Gibbs, Isaack Gegoghan, Luke Rigden, Shaun Fields, Jos Crush, Aidan Harper and Robert Duffy.
Report by: Edward Duffy
back to Under
14s Home Page
