Dover U14s (31) v (20) Deal U14s
Played Sunday 4th October 2009
Dover U14’s welcomed near neighbours and local rivals Deal to Crabble this weekend for their first home game of the season,
Following last weeks performance the boys turned up hopeful of a good performance. Unfortunately, Matt R and Angus joined Joe on the injury list, but Joe Dennis returned from injury and there were also three players making their debut.
Despite playing uphill first, Dover took the game to Deal right from the kick-off and were close to scoring on several occasions. Eventually Deal were penalised and Dover opted to kick for the points, with Kallum narrowly missing the uprights. Undeterred Dover moved back into the Deal half and again looked likely to score, before Deal managed to break away with their impressive winger and score a try.
At this stage Dover knew there was no need to panic as they felt sure they were the better team and had only conceded a try totally against the run of play.
However events were to repeat themselves as for the remainder of the half Dover were applying all the pressure without scoring whilst Deal managed to snatch two further breakaway tries, giving Deal a 15-0 lead at the break.
This made for a tense half time talk as the coaches attempted to convince the boys that they were playing the better rugby and that points would come. Last year the boys might not have believed this, but this year the Dover are building a good team spirit and they took back to the field knowing they had the slope in their favour and a belief that they could still win this match.
Sure enough the second half continued with Dover in the ascendency. Time and again Dover battered away at the Deal line before eventually Kieran forced his way over for the first try. Now on the up Dover quickly ran in another try through Kallum. Perhaps a little too confident Dover then allowed Deal to steal another try to put them into a tight 20-19 lead, but still with plenty of time on the clock for either team to win.
It was at this stage that Dover’s shear will to win this game shone through as the whole team committed themselves to the cause. Both forwards and backs took the game to Deal and continually drove forward and over the gain line with only desperate defending by Deal stopping Dover from scoring.
Dover were not to be denied though and both Kieran and Kallum scored their second tries of the match and debutant Kile streaked down the wing for a scorching try.
Deal valiantly continued to test Dover with some good forward play of their own but each and every Dover player tackled like demons to stop Deal adding further to their score.
At the end it was a jubilant Dover team and their supporters that let out a mighty roar on the refs whistle, but at the same time acknowledging that Deal had given them a stern test and played their part in a good tough game of rugby.
For the coaches it was pleasing to see much of the hard work in training beginning to show in matches. Whether the forwards kept it tight with Kieran, Jordan, George, Robin, Arron, Jamie or Matt all driving forward, or Peter and Harry releasing the backs to attack at pace this was a truly excellent team performance.
This week saw a further three debutants with Jack and Kyle both slotting into the team nicely, whilst Adam was loaned to Deal for the day but is hopefully looking forward to his first start for Dover.
Team Robin Jenkins, Arron Coleman, Jamie, Angus Killin, Matt Sanders, George Smith (c), Jordan Annakie, Peter Merit, Harry Moore, Kieron Hopper, Finley McMunn, Tyler Walledge, Kallum Allen, Corey Murdoch, Fraser Shields, Joe Dennis, Jack, Kyle, Adam
Reported By Tim Moore
Posted 2nd October 2009
